Confession: Appearances can be deceiving

Loki, queen for the day in her laundry basketGuest Confession by Kristina Neild: June Cleaver and Carol Brady would be aghast, but contrary to what my invited guests might presume is an immaculate abode, reality is, if you were to stop by unannounced you would get a much clearer picture of what my house ‘really’ looks like. (On second thought, Carol Brady’s opinion really doesn’t count; after all, she had good ol’ Alice at her beck and call.)

Mine is a home where occasionally, like something out of an old Clint Eastwood Western, dust bunnies tumbleweed across the ceramic and hardwood floors. If you were to step onto one of several area rugs you might find yourself hip-deep in enough cat hair to make a creepy (yet warm) fur coat.

Venture into the kitchen and you’ll probably encounter last night’s pots soaking in a sink full of cold, stagnant dishwater – you know the kind where orange blotches of hardened fat float aimlessly around as if lost at sea? (Did you know that baked-on lasagna residue requires at least two days of submergence? Seriously.) Ultimately, the aforementioned pots will sit idle and dirty until some brave soul gives in and reluctantly plunges their trembling hand into the murky depths to pull the plug and begin the cleaning process anew.

My family room is guaranteed to contain at least three pairs of dirty socks whose owners have removed and subsequently abandoned them under various pieces of furniture. They are stuffed in between couch cushions, thrown behind the television, kicked under the coffee table and once, surprisingly, craftily hidden behind a collection of Disney DVDs on the bookshelf. Locating a matching pair is kind of like hunting for eggs at Easter, only smellier and not quite as rewarding.

Let’s not forget what I affectionately refer to as ‘Mount Laundry’, a mammoth hill of clothes, bedding and towels that teeters precariously on the brink of collapse. Its bulging girth encroaches into the hallway, threatening to expose itself to unsuspecting passersby. To one day be able to conquer its tower of hampers is something I can only fathom is akin to scaling Everest.

As you can imagine, I am not one of those people who gives my family and friends a standing carte blanche invitation to ‘stop by any time you want’. I guess in a way I’m kind of like a convenience store…No shirt, no shoes, no phone call, no entry!

Kristy Neild: Kristy is a Canadian domestic goddess extraordinaire with three cats, two kids, one husband and zero desire to grow up. She is a former legal secretary and daycare worker (not at the same time) who has rediscovered her love of the written word and is currently working on her first novel. You can visit Kristy’s blog at: http://khaosbecomesher.blogspot.com/  or to follow Kristy on Twitter, go to: http://twitter.com/KristywithaK

Confession: I hate shopping

Lady's SaleYes, I said it. I hate shopping. So much so that the very thought of braving the mall makes me want to form a duck-down chrysalis with my duvet, crawl in and never come out. (If you listen very carefully you can hear my cousins gasping in horror from aisle 236 of the Walmart Superstore.)I’m going to be a bit stereotypical here and say that when it comes to shopping, I’m not your average girl. I’m a get in and get out quick kind of gal. No browsing, no dawdling, no oohing and ahhing. I derive no pleasure from the act itself and, in fact, I can only think of a couple things I enjoy less. Having my bikini area waxed or a double root canal perhaps trumps my dislike for shopping, but not by much.

Unfortunately, as the mom, and primary ‘getter of things’ for the household, shopping is a part of the job. It’s 9:30 p.m. and the teenager needs Bristol board for a science project that is due tomorrow? Mom will get it. Soda’s on sale for half price at the local ‘Stop N Shop’ and a year’s supply sounds like a good idea? Mom will get it. Ninety-nine percent of the time it all falls on Mom’s shoulders.

Grocery shopping, gotta do it, right? (I believe there’s some sort of children’s services rule against not feeding them, but whatever.) There is nothing appealing about the prospect of maneuvering an uncooperative cart through aisles and aisles of fellow ornery shoppers, waiting to pay in a line-up so long I have time to contemplate the meaning of life to eventually be faced with the stressful task of bagging my own groceries as a less than enthused cashier throws me a look that says ‘would ya hurry it up already?’. Okay, so not exactly the best example to demonstrate how much I hate shopping as I really can’t envision anyone in their right mind finding the grocery store an ideal place to practice some retail therapy.

Let’s move on to clothes shopping. If you’re a woman who has a hang-up about any sort of bodily flaw, real or imagined, you know where I’m going with this one. Why would I willingly choose to subject myself to repeated disappointment in front of an unforgiving three-way mirror that’s all too eager to highlight the results of this past holiday season’s overindulgences? Enough said, next.

Furniture and/or electronics shopping. Now, I enjoy being stalked as much as the next person, but come on, when I’m looking for bloody dinette set? I understand everyone’s gotta earn a living but those commissioned salespeople are ruthless. If you pay close attention when you enter the store you can see them covertly jockeying for position, like tigers waiting to take down an unsuspecting gazelle on the African plains. (I’m feeling slightly paranoid right now just thinking about it.) If you’ve ever spent any time at all with a salesperson and then told him you had to “think about it” you’ll recognize the Jekyll & Hyde shift that occurs. I could be flailing around on the floor in front of him choking on a cherry jujube and unless I agree to buy that plasma screen T.V. he spent the last hour trying to convince me I needed I can forget about the Heimlich maneuver. I don’t like to be pressured into anything, especially not purchasing a big-ticket item simply because I feel obligated.

‘A day at the mall’ shopping. I’ve never understood this concept and by questioning it’s very existence I know I’m taking my life into my own hands. (Remember my cousins? They’ve moved to the Sears outlet store but they can still hear me.) The ceramic tiles of the shopping center are hallowed ground to many girlfriends/sisters/mothers-daughters. Cable TV dramedies and chick lit books have fed us ludicrous fantasies of happy, smiling women walking side-by-side through the mall, each toting a plethora of designer shopping bags, whilst their Jimmy Choo’s click in unison and their long flaxen hair blows in the mysterious wind – rubbish. All fabricated to make you believe that you too can be a vision of shopping perfection. I’m so close to exposing a conspiracy theory I can taste it. I’ve never spent a day at the mall that didn’t involve a 1.3 mile walk from the overflow parking, the formation of countless blisters on my heels, a pizza sauce stain down the front on my shirt and a sore neck from schlepping my twenty pound purse around. Not so glamorous, eh?

I do, however, praise the retail gods for the advent of two things. Firstly, there is the gift card. What could make shopping for someone else easier than these little wonders of merchandising genius? No more guessing if you’ve bought the right size or if your gift is going to be appreciated instead of ending up in the yard sale pile. Secondly, but equally important, is online shopping. Shopping while sitting in front of my computer wearing a bathrobe, eating a bowl of ice cream and watching Seinfeld re-runs on television – need I say more? Those two things have single-handedly improved my quality of life tenfold.

I guess shopping is one of those necessary evils that if I had the choice I’d avoid it like the plague. But alas, as the mom, choice is a rarely utilized luxury.

Shopping = Stress = No thanks, I’m good.

Confession: I avoid my daughter’s teacher so she can’t ask me to volunteer

JOH_0878I’m a good person, really I am. And for the record I do volunteer, like once or twice a month, when scheduled. However, in the mornings when dropping my daughter off at school I will wear sunglasses (even when overcast) to avoid making eye contact with her teacher. Shameful!I understand that to the outside world I’m a ‘Stay-At-Home Mom’ and it would appear as though aside from cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, errand running and appointment hopping my calendar should be flexible. Newsflash, it’s not. I suppose that’s why I’ve never been comfortable with the term ‘Stay-At-Home Mom’ as it doesn’t do justice to all that being a ‘SAHM’ entails.

My time, even if it is being used to slay eight loads of laundry in one day, is precious and my calendar is not to be messed with. In this job which already invites so much of the unexpected, from sick kids needing to be picked up at school to homework assignments and gym shorts to be brought to the oblivious teenager who believes it’s MY fault he forgot them, I don’t take kindly to change inflicted by people other than my spawn.

Even if the teacher were so bold as to approach me about volunteering regardless of my attempts to be invisible, which she has before, my answer will most likely be a heartfelt “I’m sorry, but no, I’m busy”.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have precisely three and a half minutes before the kids get home from school to plop my over-extended butt on the couch and enjoy my super Venti Mint Mocha Chip Frappuccino with extra whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles.

Kristy Neild: Kristy is a Canadian domestic goddess extraordinaire with three cats, two kids, one husband and zero desire to grow up. She is a former legal secretary and daycare worker (not at the same time) who has rediscovered her love of the written word and is currently working on her first novel. You can visit Kristy’s blog at: http://khaosbecomesher.blogspot.com/ or to follow Kristy on Twitter, go to: http://twitter.com/KristywithaK