#159 — Routine Housework
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As a bachelor, I subscribed to the belief that cleaning house was like going to war; it was to be conducted with forethought and seriousness of purpose, and only when no other alternative could be found. Cleaning with any kind of regularity would have interfered with vital activities like re-watching old movies on VHS, arguing the relative merits of Marvel vs. DC superheroes, and thinking up creative new excuses for the mess in my apartment. After a while, the layer of empty pizza boxes and moldering socks was so thick in places that it exerted a gravitational influence on the tides. If I had gotten close enough to clean, I’d have been dragged down past the pizza event horizon and trapped forever.
Once I was married, my wife explained that house cleaning was less an event and more a regular occurrence. In her view, the entire house needed a good cleaning at least once a week and parts of it required daily attention. I tried to negotiate a longer, more reasonable schedule — something resembling a Congressional session or the length of an Ingmar Bergen film — but she stood firm.
So now I spend more time cleaning each week than I do reading the morning paper. I may not be well-informed, but at least I live in a tidy house.
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Like this excerpt? Want the whole story? Listen to the audio version by clicking the ‘Play’ button at the top of this post. If you’d rather read it, you can find the full text at http://myfavoriteshortcomings.wordpress.com/2009/06/27/routine-housework/
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Notes:
- Once again, I owe Shane an apology for mis-pronouncing his name. So, by way of making it up, let me point you off to his well-written and entertaining blog at http://bdgjm.blogspot.com/
- Stuart Jaffe of The Eclectic Review left a nice comment about buying multiple appliances. You can listen to Stuart and his wife Glory at http://eclectic.libsyn.com/
- My new Twitter friend Michelle Mangen is in a really interesting business…she’s a virtual assitant. You can find out more at http://www.thevirtualasst.com/
- Finally, check out all of the interesting reviews over at http://www.techtalkforfamilies.com
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Kevin:
It was so much fun to have myself alerted that you had done the link to my Virtual Assistant site via Google Alerts!
Of course, I had to come out here to read and listen to the podcast.
As I told you yesterday on Twitter I really laughed listening to this…particularly the part about the grass stretching to grow another inch. I swear mine does the same thing!
Now that I have been “informed” of these fun broadcasts I will be back to listen more often as I always enjoy a good laugh!
Keep up the creative work!
Michelle Mangen
Owner, Your Virtual Assistant
Neenah, WI
http://www.TheVirtualAsst.com
Thanks for the kind words, Michelle. Glad you enjoy the shows!