 sj |
||
|
||
BS: Untidy Mudcatters?
|
|
|
|||||||
|
BS: Untidy Mudcatters? |
Share Thread
|
||||||
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: SarahC Date: 08 Jan 02 - 03:32 PM Well, reading these posts I feel better already! Here's to that 'lived in' look! Cheers Sarah |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: Morticia Date: 08 Jan 02 - 04:17 PM I KNOW there's a desk under the paper somewhere because something must be holding it all up. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: Lyrical Lady Date: 09 Jan 02 - 12:01 AM Morticia ... don't loose the little map in all those papers ... hopefully you'll need it one day! LL ( who is untidy as well) |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: TeriLu Date: 09 Jan 02 - 12:33 AM How about cars? That's where I'm known as the Queen of Clutter. My daughter's friend felt compelled to clean my car, making it look brand-new, after borrowing it for a week. He proudly showed me his work, and though appreciative, as well as finding it very funny, I felt somewhat embarassed. Then my husband offered to lend him his chimney sweep van for a week! The friend good-naturedly laughed and replied he wouldn't know what was supposed to be clean or dirty in that vehicle! Actually, I find it somewhat refreshing to have a clean freak around, particularly one who is male and much younger than I. Whenever he gets too bothered, we can rely on him to do his thing, and we benefit from his compulsion, while he benefits from our home/food/company/car/daughter. A nice bartering arrangement! |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: Don Firth Date: 09 Jan 02 - 12:56 AM I KNOW there's a desk under the paper somewhere because something must be holding it all up. Unless it's just more paper. . . . Don Firth |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: Bill D Date: 09 Jan 02 - 11:46 AM I think there is a difference between those whose basic living space CAN be cleaned and/or ordered in a day or two (as when company is expected), and those who simply have no space to put away or hide things if they wanted to. We are a mixed type...there are almost impassable areas, but, we also are able (with some diligent sorting)to host a sing or like this coming Sat., a birthday party. The house is large enough to make huge stacks in one section, while leaving the required areas passable. We have only one child, and one thing which drives me to attempt order is guilt over leaving this mess to him someday!....The other thing is, although I can NOW manage to sort and stack and creatively topologize the excess, I am 62...and who knows when I might suddenly NOT be able!....so I have a sort of goal to reduce the clutter to where serious old age may be tolerable without danger of disappearing under toppling heaps of Ballad books and beer bottles! wish me luck!...(or, come help..*grin*...I might have neat prizes to send away with you!) |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: Gillie Date: 09 Jan 02 - 12:53 PM Can I nominate Badger and Tig |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: Morticia Date: 09 Jan 02 - 01:51 PM Don, that is a terrible, terrible thing to say.....and may be quite true, therefore I shall postpone tidying just in case there is no desk *BG*. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: Maryrrf Date: 09 Jan 02 - 03:24 PM I fall into the untidy but clean category. Lately I've been making a concerted effort to get rid of clutter, and I may check out that Feng shui book recommended in a previous thread. I've come to realize that a lot of my "fear of uncluttering" has to do with sentimental attachments. I think this is why I hold on to things I never use and don't need. So my house is somewhat cluttered, but I do keep things reasonably clean and sanitary! |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: allie kiwi Date: 09 Jan 02 - 03:34 PM This thread has just made me feel so much better about everything - the piles, the things leaning against each other etc.
The thing is - even with the clutter I know where everything is. It is only when my husband starts 'tidying up' that things go missing. I wouldn't mind if he put things away and could remember where they went, but he has this ability to move them to odd places, and not rememeber ever having SEEN said item, let alone moving it, and putting it... somewhere. He is 6 feet 4 to my 5 feet 3 and has a tendency to put things 'up' and in odd places. (For example, my kilt went missing for over a year, and turned up FOLDED (??? who would ever fold a kilt - think or the ironing!) in the chilly bin (cooler, thing you put beer etc in for a picnic?).
My mother is a fanatical cleaner. Her house is spotless and she will put away a glass as 'messy' while I am turning to the fridge to get the milk to pour in said clean glass... She gave me a sign to put up - "DON'T PUT IT DOWN, PUT IT AWAY!". I hate it. She has no music in her, and thinks it 'frivolous'. She cannot see WHY I need 2 guitars, 3 clarinets, 2 violins, a flute, a piccolo, assorted tin whistles, various percussion necessities, and a piano...
Yup, that one is me *grin* |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: Maryrrf Date: 09 Jan 02 - 03:40 PM Oh, I like that last saying! And I must say I'd rather be in a somewhat messy but warm house than a spotless, overtidy one. In my house, the dog is welcome to get on the furniture and everybody is encouraged to put their feet up on the coffee table! And I do allow smoking in moderation although I'm a non smoker myself. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: SharonA Date: 09 Jan 02 - 05:56 PM More sayings: I have a slate plaque that reads, "If you're coming to see me, come anytime. If you're coming to see my house, make an appointment." I also have a trivet with the motto "Thank God for dirty dishes; they have a tale to tell. While others may go hungry, we're eating very well." Other signs I have seen: "Martha Stewart doesn't live here" and also "Martha Stewart and Bob Vila don't live here". |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: SharonA Date: 09 Jan 02 - 06:02 PM Oops! I forgot to include these: "Around here, 'Normal' is just a setting on the dryer." "No decorating scheme is complete without cat hair" (and/or "dog hair"). |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: Helen Date: 09 Jan 02 - 06:17 PM allie, I shared a house for a year with an obsessive/compulsive putter-awayer. I have a similar story about the time I turned around to the frig to get the sandwich filling out, and found the bread, the bread board, and the bread knife washed, dried and put away before I could put the filling on the sandwich. I had to get everything out again to cut the tomatoes up, of course. Time to move somewhere else. It is that flatmate's mother, who was even worse than my flatmate, that I always think of as a dull woman with an immaculate house. She definitely didn't have a life. Helen |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: GUEST,Desdemona Date: 09 Jan 02 - 07:12 PM We have friends who swear by inviting guests for one weekend a month; it forces them to tidy up. We have a huge party every year for 12th Night, which has the effect of making us get all of Santa's prezzies, etc. out of the living room (of course, they just get piled on the children's floors, but that's good enough for us!). |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: Nancy King Date: 09 Jan 02 - 07:59 PM Hoo-eee, I always knew Mudcatters were soulmates! One of my favorite "Shoe" cartoons has our hero sitting at his piled-high desk, thinking, "My data storage and retrieval system is very scientific. It's based on some simple concepts of basic physics. Mostly friction and gravity." I think Mark's Clutter/Feng Shui book is probably on the right track, but I much prefer the music explanation. Except it might mean I need to get messier? I dunno. I bring my house up to minimum standard two or three times a year, whether it needs it or not. One of the basement bedrooms is full of stuff belonging to my son(s); it is familiarly known as The Snakepit. I envision cleaning it out with a shovel if I ever move out. You're not an empty-nester till they move their stuff out, you know. Half of my bedroom -- the half visible to visitors heading for the bathroom -- looks OK, but the other half is piled high with boxes of books, boxes of mementoes retrieved from my late parents' house, gifts to be recycled, stuff that should be taken to the consignment shop whenever I get around to that, etc., etc. I even brought back from the parents' house a very nice teak wardrobe that should nicely hold a bunch of the stuff now sitting on shelves, so that the books could go on the shelves, and the stuff in the den could go where the books are, and.... But have I gotten around to starting this process yet? Nooooo... I think this might be partly hereditary (nature/nurture). In the parents' house, among many other things, we found phone books from 1987, an entire drawer full of ballpoint pen tops (no pens, just tops), four large boxes all sealed up with tape and labeled "take with," which proved to be stuff they'd brought with them when they moved to Florida 20 years before. They weren't particularly musical, though... But wait! The article says good TASTE in music also qualifies. Well, there you go. Cheers, Nancy |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: GUEST Date: 29 Mar 02 - 12:56 PM resolution lasted until st patrick day now its a mess again |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: DMcG Date: 29 Mar 02 - 02:30 PM One thing that is striking about these posts is that everyone who has piles of papers, stuffed bookshelves and more books on top of those, etc etc knows exactly where everything is (unless it is a Copeland whistle). I'm the same. Yesterday I referred to 'infir taris' from a nursery rhyme which my collegue did not recognise. I found the relevant book (The Oxford Book of Nursery Rhymes) in around a minute and the poem itself in a few more seconds. Yet my youngest is now fifteen and its about 13 years since I picked that book up. So why bother to tidy up if we can find things so quickly anyway (except, of course, Copeland whistles)? This advice to throw away stuff you've collected simply to make the place look neater would have meant I lost that book years ago. Surely there is no-one insensitive enough to throw books away? If there is, the houses they end up with would be the ones Cecil Sharp complained about: neat, tidy - and empty? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: Linda Kelly Date: 29 Mar 02 - 04:25 PM On more than one occasion I have had to phone my mobile number in order to locate the blessed thing. Am I untidy - I guess so, but I do like clean ... |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: DancingMom Date: 29 Mar 02 - 11:15 PM Kindred spirits. There are six people and a dog living in our tiny little house. It usually looks like a train wreck in here, but our best friends don't care. The ONLY thing that puts a burr under my bustle is COMPANY COMING. Sharon M. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: Mr Red Date: 30 Mar 02 - 05:50 AM Cleanliness is next to Fastidiousness My contention is: if you can't find it it IS untidy. Function over form any day! |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: kendall Date: 30 Mar 02 - 08:32 AM I cant stand dirt and clutter. That's why I keep as much of it in my house as I can. Dont want the neighborhood to see it. Actually, for a man living alone, I'm not too bad... am I Peg, Sinsull, Harpgirl, Seamus? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: NELLIE Date: 30 Mar 02 - 02:54 PM I used to have a sign in my living room when my children were small. It said. Creative people are untidy, intelligent people understand. I wish I had it now. Jenny |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: artbrooks Date: 30 Mar 02 - 07:14 PM Someone mentioned in a previous response the concept of hiring major cleaning once every two weeks or so. Herself's version of that is: hire the cleaning done, but first spend 4 hours picking up the place so the cleaning person can find the floors. helps to locate the overdue library books...and I KNOW where MY bodhran is! |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: kendall Date: 30 Mar 02 - 07:32 PM Me thinks I have fallen among truth stretchers! (I feel right at home) |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: artbrooks Date: 30 Mar 02 - 08:08 PM You're right, Kendall...maybe I don't know where ALL the bodhrans are.... |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: JohnInKansas Date: 31 Mar 02 - 03:23 PM We are all kindred sould, but... I saw a couple of people mention - "It'll get better if I build some bookcases," or something similar. Get over it! When I realized I was dealing with a bookoholic, I started building bookcases (and buying a few "nice" ones for the upstairs). With an even 30 6 foot x 3 foot cases, plus some built-ins, we now have 205 "shelves" totaling 459.8 lineal feet, many of which are filled "double deep." Any book actually in use will be found in one of several piles near where we need them, because the shelves are full. Stir occasionally. I'd build some more, but we've run out of walls. A couple of people have said "if it's 15 years old and you haven't used it you should throw it away." There is no statute of limitations on TREASURE. In 1962, a former spouse complained that our new clothes dryer was "making funny noises and sounds like it's going to explode." Naturally, I surveyed the situation, made knowing noises, and bought a repair part (which I hid in the sack of replacement vacuum cleaner bags where I knew she would never see it.) Since I had "done something," the dryer was now ok. In 1991, the part in question broke, and - 29 years later - I installed the "new" part. (Yes, it was still in the sack with the cleaner bags - but I'm not telling whether the sack still contained some of the 20 original bags.) In 1992 I encountered a "technical problem" of serious proportions that had been "studied" by a group of a half-dozen quite competent engineers for several weeks without resolution. A NASA report that I had "squirreled away" in 1959 made it possible for me to provide a definitive answer with less than two hours work. The "correct" answer prevented a supplier from "cutting corners" in a way that would have seriously compromised emergency evacuation provisions on a major passenger airplane. You don't have to keep anything, but what we keep becomes part of what we are. That's the scary part. John |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: hesperis Date: 31 Mar 02 - 03:50 PM Isn't mess just FASCINATING? The ways that people react to clutter and uncleanliness... wow. I am firmly in the "there are more fun things to do than the floors" camp. ;) Actually, recently I have been staying at an ashram, and the owner actually enjoys housecleaning. The attitude is beginning to rub off on me a little. I never knew it could actually be a fun and creative thing to do. (Yes, fun!!!!!!!!!!!! Whoa...) Of course, I'd still rather be on the computer, or playing music! |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: Cobble Date: 31 Mar 02 - 04:48 PM A tidy desk is the sign of a degenerate mind ! ! ! House work is best done only when you can see the difference....... Gillie... should you let the cats out of the bag...... Mrs C |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Untidy Mudcatters? From: Joe_F Date: 01 Apr 02 - 10:47 AM I believe in confined & classified clutter. I have four hellboxes, for big & small electrical & nonelectrical things. Watches that have been dead for 30 years! You never know. When the little metal feet of my new toaster oven slithered around on top of the microwave, I got out the odd piece of the mouse pad that I had cut out to make room for the corner of the keyboard, cut four pieces out of it, and fastened them down with double-backed tape. (Every household needs a dozen rolls of different kinds of tape.) Every use of available materials is a small victory in life. Shopping constitutes honorable defeat. |