Thursday, March 25, 2010

pardon the dust

Elisabeth mentioned her dislike of housework in her delightful post today.
She is lucky enough to have a housekeeper come in once a week, and
deliver her from such evils. I, on the other hand, have bravely maintained
the manor chores myself.

The funny thing is, back when the manor was bustling with three children,
two huge yellow labs, three cats, a hamster and a cockatoo, I was on some
kind of wonder woman quest, balancing home, school, church, a gift basket
business and catering business. The manor was always miraculously
sparkling.


Not so, now, with an empty nest and nothing to do but housekeeping stuff
and blogging. A thick layer of dust covers the furniture, like a blanket of
gray felt. Someone said it is actually good for wood to be protected by dust.
I wholeheartedly agree.

I like to think of the current condition of the manor as "blogger's house".
You know, like swimmer's ear or tennis elbow. So, pardon the dust. I've
realized the kitchen police and dust patrol are not going to ticket me for
any infractions. And you know what? It feels nice. If you happen to drop
by the manor, just pull the spiderwebs away from my face, so I can see you.


(I took this photo last summer at the main intersection of our little town,
which has been under construction. I immediately connected and gave
them a full pardon.)
.
.

This is a Theme Thursday post.

84 comments:

  1. I hate housework!
    I do it but grudgingly
    just give me a rake and a trowel and a broom outdoors!

    I miss my lovely Ghislain in Marrakesh who ,ade the house sparkle and SANG
    at the same time!!!!

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  2. I would love to have Ghislain come sing and tidy up the manor!

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  3. I can relate...
    It seems the older I become the less I care about everything being in it's place.
    I used to be a housekeeping fanatic, vacuuming everyday, washing, scrubbing, maintaining order.
    These days not so much, I've shuffled my priority list, orderly is listed, but nowhere close to the top.
    Good in'it :)

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  4. Love the "blogger's house" pairing with "tennis elbow".

    I, too, enjoyed Elisabeth's post and especially liked the question she quotes one of her writing teachers as having asked:
    ‘What do you want to have written on your gravestone? That she wrote that she kept a tidy house or that she wrote a good book?’

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  5. So, so true. I can relate. All of those dust bunnies have names in my house. My fridge magnet says, "Housework Rots Your Mind." Welcome back.

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  6. I know there is a really good saying about clean houses and wasted lives! Blog on, Willow. x

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  7. LOL!!...I have such a messy house right now. Yet, I still elected to ignore the clutter today to work on a drawing and then ventured out to the garden for a bit...

    Happy early TT!

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  8. May I use the line that "dust is good for wood" ? sometimes I use the excuse that I would rather be outside taking care of the garden, than working to keep the Jarvis House tidy. Oh well, but how do I explain rainy days?

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  9. You are hilarious! Love your humor!

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  10. It is little funny but harmless

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  11. I never knew dust was good for furniture! That should make the headlines- every woman needs to know!

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  12. I think we all reach the place in life that we no longer put keeping house on top of our priority list. We raised the kids and worked and we all got through it. Blogging and reading books are my two favorite things to do these days. Yes, I wash clothes and cook and do dishes but in a more laid back manner. It's nice, isn't it? I don't freak if there is some dust and I don't get the vacuum out as often. Yay.

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  13. I long ago determined that I was not going to spend my time cleaning. I am tidy and organized but you can often find dust around. great street sign.

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  14. Hey there, my FFF(Favorite Far-away Friend.) I thought I'd change my approach today and come in through the front door, but alas, I see I'm already 16th in line. Dang! I think I'm in the wrong time zone to be in with your in-crowd. I like it better on your back porch anyway. Thanks for letting me wallow in the wry there. It's not often that someone immediately gets my sense of humor as you did. In fact, some folks never do; they're the ones who think I should be safely institutionalized in some obscure location. Actually, I'm already in an obscure location, but happily running amuck out here in the Blogosphere. Thanks for not booting me out of your big crowd of admirers. The fact that you reacted to my first off-the-wall comment by visiting my puny-ass blog, then even signing up (pushing my list of followers well into two digits!), still pleases the heck out of me. Of course I am not really going to throw myself under a bus for doing this; here I am to thank you once again. Gosh, you're really swell, Willow. Okay. Right. I'll shut up now. It's a little early in the day for me to show up here yet. Where's the back door? So that's all for now from the Land of Patty Duke. Over and out, and Bye-eeee~~~~

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  15. willow i really love cleaning this house - really i do!! i was brought up by my mum to know how to do housework. "you might not get married you know". hey, skewed advice but it left me able to do everything if necessary. my dad taught me how to cook because my mum was ummmm not very good at all. at all! so i cook the meals for the family. i mentioned to elisabeth over at her post about this matter, that i've been asked many times why we don't have a housekeeper - after all, i'm a full-time teacher and my wife's a principal so she has next to no time - and my answer was i really truly love making this home nice for her and for my son and daughter. i really do! steven

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  16. I have to laugh at this and nod my head in agreement. I was much, much more fastidious when my three children were home. I thought I had to set an example for them, I believe. Now, well...it's just not as important to me. I'd rather spend my time making friends right here than moving that dust over there!

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  17. Perfect post for TT theme! I am always willing to pardon the dust!

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  18. I have found that as long as you don't move anything from it's spot, the dust goes by unnoticed.

    I am trying to be better about it though at the country house.

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  19. willow, love what you did with your page...i could use a pardon the dust sign, if my wife would let me...lol.

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  20. When my young daughter was told on the phone by a friend that she couldn't come over to play until she finished the dusting, my daughter turned to me and asked, " Mom, do we dust?" Oops...I guess I didn't dust often enough. Still don't! I just don't move anything and keep the lights low.

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  21. If it wasn't for the occasional cat tracks, I would never even notice things needed dusting. So glad to know I'm not alone!

    I like the new color scheme, kind of. You didn't take it to heart when that person criticized the old colors, did you? Remember: it's what YOU like that counts.

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  22. JG, I tried hard not to take it to heart, but as you can see, I did! :P

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  23. My magnet says "Housework makes you ugly." I have a wonderful woman who comes every two weeks and takes care of the floors, bathrooms and all the things I can't manage any more. I usually dust in between when we are having company. It is my kitchen table that stays stacked up with art projects all the time. I keep things neat in the winter but springtime, I am outside.
    QMM

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  24. I think we can all relate to this! That,....and blogger weight. :)

    Speaking of weight...'taters' is the word verification. ha.

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  25. Dusting is a waste of time, because it just comes right back. It's nature's boomerang. Besides, if our guests get bored, they can always draw pictures in the dust.

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  26. I used to say nobody ever died of dust but I suppose that's not true.

    I have had a weekly housekeeper for about 8 years. I have often said I would get a parttime job rather than go back to cleaning my house.

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  27. Oh Willow, lets be creative and call it character! Yes, untouched velvet coating which adds the true character to any given marvelous place. La tee dah, right, my daaaling! LadyCat and I have a lot of character floating thru Wellington these glorious days.
    :) The Bach

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  28. I can put up with a fair amount of dust as long as the house is reasonably tidy. But with shedding dogs in the house, I kinda have to pull out the vacuum cleaner before the hairballs take over.

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  29. Willow, if people come to your home and see dust then show them the door. They aren't your friends anyway.

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  30. Bach, yes, that lovely dust just adds to the patina, right?

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  31. My place has suffered a bit since blogging but on a positive note for blogging ...I've just been inspired by some of the comments here... I can get help for the things I don't like having to do. I've learned so much from blogging. It's so much fun!
    Thanks a bunch.

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  32. Ah, Willow. Your house feels like a home, then. I am never comfortable in an overly clean house. It makes me feel like I have to be too careful, you know? A true home has clutter and dustbunnies. Life is too short to waste on such trivialities!

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  33. ah blogger's dust, so that explains what has happened here on avenue c!!

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  34. You were so sweet to drop by for a quick visit! I am so new to blogging, I get so excited when I have company! Your the best! Thank you again, and keep up your great sense of humor, love it!

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  35. "Someone said it is actually good for wood to be protected by dust. I wholeheartedly agree."

    Is is, then, a damnable lie that it likes Lemon Pledge better?

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  36. Yes, Snowbrush, a damnable lie.

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  37. Willow, what came to my tiny little mind here is "Pip. Pip, sir!"

    You're not turning into Miss Haversham, now are you!?

    ;)

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  38. I almost mentioned Miss Haversham in this post. You read my mind! At least I'm not sitting here, blogging in an old wedding dress!

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  39. I will certainly have to share this with hubby. He keeps asking if I have always kept house the way I do now.

    You have captured what I could not express.

    Somehow what once was important is no more. I have reached the place where life is to be enjoyed for the time remaining is limited.

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  40. I have artist house! same as blogger house :)

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  41. I think Lady Magnon just likes the house to be NATURAL.

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  42. There is a perfectly good reason our eyesight gets worse as we age. And it's not just so that we stay married. It also holds the key to happiness: lower standards.

    Also, dust bunnies are good company. Better than some.

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  43. I adore that last sentence! LOL!

    I despise housework, but cannot justify help when we moved into our little vacation home, and two of us are there all of the time. The cleaning lady would laugh us out of town!

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  44. I hate housework too, but am lucky that I have a woman come in every two weeks to do the heavy work.

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  45. I understand that "immediate connection."
    "Pardon the dust" should be tattooed to my forehead.

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  46. I have been meaning to say how I love your new blog layout Willow....xv

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  47. Was it Quentin Crisp who claimed, after three years of not dusting, it ceases to be a problem?

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  48. "A Bloggers House" I love the concept and I have immediately declared my house such a property.

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  49. I really shouldn't be writing this here and now - not surrounded as I am by so much palpable evidence of 'blogger's house'. So excuse me while I head for that broom...

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  50. I know exactly what you mean - I also live in a blogger's house, made 'worse' by the fact that the man is not around - the man who was brought up by a houseproud mother.

    He is coming home next Tuesday so Monday will have a lot of housework in it.

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  51. I am with you on this one. What happened to all that energy and caring about dust and housework from decades ago? Yesterday I finally dusted and it was not a pretty sight. I didn't feel an ounce of guilt.

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  52. Willow

    I love housework especially when someone else is doing it,,,, I have no idea what the TV looks like -- my focus is on the computer --between blogging and working to get a doctorate degree, so dust bunnies are not a priority
    Love the image of you with spider web on your face -is that akin to having "Hat Hair" ?
    Joanny

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  53. My wife says a house doesn't look "lived in" unless there is some dirt around the edges.

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  54. Hello Willow,

    Dust is a bane isn't it?! We can never escape it at our house; I think we collect it from the entire neighbourhood! Like your new template.

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  55. Martin, three years, eh? Well, I guess I'm just not waiting quite long enough between dustings for it to no longer be a problem!

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  56. HH, dust happens? Love it. LOVE it!

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  57. Thanks, Derrick, I really like the way it turned out, except that it seems to take a lot longer to load!

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  58. Cobwebs and dust. Part of my daily life.

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  59. "Blogger's house"--I love it!

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  60. GOOD FOR YOU!

    I would not be one to turn away a housekeeper if one would come my way at NO COST. ;)
    But, the older I get, I realize that it is NOT important...some of those household jobs I used to spend SO MUCH time doing!

    GOOD FOR YOU!

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  61. Here's how I see it: if I have to dust in the first place, I prefer to see a little build-up of it so I feel like my efforts are worthwhile. I need one of those signs. I can relate to what you said, though--when I was busiest in my life, I was also the best about keeping things spotless. Now, I'm more relaxed about it, and I figure--it'll still be there for me to dust later!

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  62. Dusting was always my job when I was a kid - & I've been rebelling against it ever since! I did finally dust the living room the other day, but only half-heartedly. What I really WISH I would do more often is vacuum - I don't like dirty floors, but apparently I don't care enough to do anything about them :)

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  63. Bloggers house? That's so funny, Willow.

    I am a weirdo in that I actually enjoy cleaning house. It clears my head and gives me instant gratification.

    That said, I don't get creeped out by a little dust. Dust is cool. Yeah.

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  64. Not only is your post hilarious, the comments are too. You bring up points that most people wouldn't want to broach. Thanks for tickling my funny bone!

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  65. "blogger's house".

    It sounds more like a 'bachelor's pad' to me. :-)

    What's amazing is the sheer amount of chores and activities in which you used to engage before. Miraculous.

    And your new header, background colour and layout are delicious. Many thanks.

    Greetings from London.

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  66. I am like ewix, I do the housework grudgingly. Maybe we could share Steven if he wasn't so far away?

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  67. I'm such a touch-and-go housewife, although I do it nearly full-time! And have help once a week!! Oh the shame...but yes, a little bit of letting-go is a marvelous thing for one's creativity, I firmly believe.

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  68. I think that dusting only once in a while makes it more efficient, because all the dust sticks together like a blanket and gets peeled up all at once. If you dust too often, you have to go chasing particles around, and that's just way too exhausting!

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  69. Brava for the candor with which you acknowledge your weakness for collecting dust (I did get that correctly, didn't I?)! :-)

    As a mother of four, I know what you are speaking of: It is an incredible feat bringing up three children. I am so grateful I somehow found the sheer physical strength to live through that small children state! When I see a mother trying to cope with small ones, I invariably offer at least a smile, an acknowledgement of "I know how hard you are working" because I am in awe of her.

    You have earned your layers of dust, Willow! Enjoy it, cobwebs and all.

    (And yes, it is Thursday evening and I would have about an hour and a half to finally do some tidying up around here before visitors arrive. No matter, I made myself a pot of tea, put my feet up and read your blog, among others, with my two cups of tea. I am pooped from a busy day, who keeps me from giving myself a breather?

    The loveliest word verification:
    pea phoni *smile*

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  70. P.S.:
    I love your new colors!!!
    So fresh and inviting.
    I think I need to have another cup of tea with you ....

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  71. 'Pardon the dust' is the ultimate civility.

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  72. Lovely post - I am amazed at hearing all the things you were doing when you were raising your children - and I love the way you describe a new relationship with dust and spiderwebs.

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  73. boy, I'd like to convince my husband a thick layer of dust is good for wood. he and i were doing it when the money was seriously tight but I'm back to a housekeeper every other now. Can't live w/o her. I hate housework too.

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  74. I'm always known that my house is cleaner when I'm busy with work. Give me lots of time at home, and I'll give you lots of dust. Besides, blogging is more fun!)

    My post for Theme Thursday is up here.

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  75. I must admit that when the house is clean, I do feel lighter, but then there is a mood that those dust bunnies bring!


    ps...My hubby and I really want a cockatoo.

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  76. When my husband left following my back surgery and I took my forensic nurse position which entailed covering 24/7 for adult rape and child sexual abuse cases, I hired someone to live in and cook and clean and help care for my three boys. I sometimes went in to the hospital and didn't get home for 24 hours! It was so nice to come home to a clean house and find good meals waiting. It cost me a lot of money but it was well worth it.

    Now, with the boys grown and me jobless, I don't really care how things look and I only have to cook for me. I do have some rather strange meals!!

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  77. Years ago I had cleaners once a fortnight and didn't have to worry about dust. Now I clean myself, work 42 hours a week and as long as I can't 'see it' . . well it doesn't exist! Although living on five acres in the wide brown land means it's always there!

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  78. I would love to have Ghislain come sing and tidy up the manor!
    data entry work from home

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  79. i live in a bloggers house too

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  80. i need a sign like that for my house. for now, i just have to settle for the "i only have a kitchen because it came with the house"

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)