The House Fairy is On Strike...

Or maybe she's just on vacation. Either way, the house is a mess. When I first moved here, I was inspired by the locals and how energetic they were. The second it stopped raining, they were all outside with their buckets and rags, cleaning the spots off their windows. Or stooped over, painstakingly pulling the tiny weeds from the gravel easement in front of their houses. At this very moment, the neighbors are probably peeking at my windows and shaking their heads in disgust. Lazy American. I'm sorry. Truly I am. I have the best of intentions. For instance, a couple of days ago... I ran out of mazout. That's the heating oil that not only warms our house, but also our water. To run out is a crime. An embarrassment. An outrage. But it happened. Blame the lazy house fairy. The mazout people were kind enough to do a same day delivery for me, but they couldn't give me an exact time. I'm fine with that, because beggars can't be choosers. Besides, it was the perfect excuse to clean the house. I can't leave, so why not do something productive with my day. After getting ready, I decided to just check my messages before I got started. I read and answered email. No problem. Then I figured I'd just check my messages on FaceBook. Here's where things started to slide down hill. There is a reason my hubby refers to FaceBook as the devil. I FaceBooked... which led into Pinteresting... which carried on to Googling. Next thing you know, the entire day is gone and the Mazout guy is pulling up in front of the house for my delivery. And my house is still messy. Maybe the House Fairy and I need to have a little chat. Something about getting her priorities in order perhaps. I'll get to it in a minute. FaceBook just whispered something to me. It was something about going over to the Dark Side. I hear they have cookies.

Two Magical Creatures In My Home

There are two magical creatures that live in our house. The first is the House Fairy. You might have met her. In fact, one might live in your house as well. She is the one who makes sure that the laundry is always clean and put away. She vacuums and mops, keeps the pantry and fridge stocked with food, and cleans the toothpaste out of the bathroom sink. She cooks the meals, wipes down the kitchen counters, and dusts the furniture. She is very busy. And she is rarely seen in public. Things just seem to get done. Her arch nemesis is Not Me. Not Me is also hard to spot and is very, very busy. Not Me finishes the roll of toilet paper and does not replace it, and throws recyclables in the trash. Not Me leaves clothes on the floor, crumbs on the kitchen counter, and eats the last of the chocolate chip cookies. I suspect that there might be more than one Not Me living in my home, but I can't prove it. Not Me is harder to spot than Big Foot, and more elusive than the Loch Ness Monster. Some day, in the not so distant future, Not Me might move on to another home. That will be a sad, sad day. But until then, it's possible... just possible... that the House Fairy might need a vacation. I caught a glimpse of her this morning, and she was rolling her eyes as she wiped the kitchen counter clean of crumbs for the third time in the last hour. I'm just saying.