fifty shades of dust and clutter

Framilode, I am surprised that 'Perfect Pamela' didn't relieve you of your coat, put it on a coat hanger and hang it in the cloakroom. Not much of a hostess.

That's what I miss now seasider - our dogs would have been on the cheese and biscuits like a shot, they didn't care about clean floors! One of them was always useful for hoovering up around the high chair and DD got wise to that fact, a good way to get rid of food she didn't want.

When I was working and doing home visits I am sure my jaw dropped in some houses where there were yards of clear kitchen surfaces and no clutter. Even the lounge didn't give away that children lived there except for framed photos of smiling children. In contrast in my house it was hard to find room to prepare meals without moving stuff first and invariably in bare feet one would walk on Lego or sticklebrick!

During a family holiday to Hornsea when I was nearly six and my youngest sibling was nearly one, our mother was ill and had to stay in bed for some of the time at least. Apparently she told dad, who was looking after the five of us, to remember to sweep the kitchen floor in our holiday house every day. Dad told us years later that his reply was: "Oh, there's no need, the baby crawls around and eats everything the others drop". We were a healthy bunch ?

As a child my home was, by turns, either meticulously clean (when stepfather with OCD lived there) or totally grimy (after he left). I opted for clinically clean with my own first home and gradually entered a sort of middle ground. We always have visitors or a lodger (or both) staying with us so the house is now in a perpetual state of 'clean and tidy, but with personality'.

2 of our AC have immaculate homes which I think must be a reaction to the clutter they grew up with.
Please take your shoes off at the door etc.
DD has a dog who sits expectantly below the baby's high chair.
A friend said to me when we were discussing housework, referring to dust and dirt "it'll still be here in 100yrs, long after we're dead and gone"

invariably in bare feet one would walk on Lego or sticklebrick!
I thought I was reasonably clean and tidy now the DC have all gone and had a good vacuum round after the and DGC came to stay - so how come I was finding tiny bits of Lego weeks and weeks afterwards?
I found a stray Christmas card yesterday, tucked behind a piece of furniture.

Well hopefully they served to bring back memories of happy moments!

Happy moments (unless trodden on!)

Ooh I forgot about the stickle bricks! The dog loved sitting under the high chair when DC were little and I am sure they threw food down on purpose!
My adult DC are both very tidy now so as mentioned before it's probably a reaction to growing up with clutter. My cousin grew up in a grubby ,messy house ( they were pretty poor as uncle was disabled) She now has an immaculate clutter free home and gets distressed if it is untidy.

A bit of a moment this evening,
passed DD my mobile which has a handy flashlight thingy to look under our fridge freezer in the hope of finding a missing 'Toy' lost by little grandson.
No toy but apparently plenty peas, fluff and crumbs.
So first job tomorrow....

Yes a small piece of lego that can't be found until grandma stands on it, a car on the back of the sofa and a pocket full of acorns