Distractions from Writing; Or How I Ponder the State of My Housekeeping Skills

I think when we began this blog, we said we would not complain about our lives (too much). Is that correct, my fellow Prudential Bloggers? Well, I would like to stick to that statement, but I must say at this very moment, our house is very messy. It is cluttered and in desperate need of a good, old-fashioned scrubbing. Part of the clutter comes from the nature of our professional lives. We here at Rosebud, PhD's house are historians and there is generally not an article we would not copy or book we would not acquire if it had anything remotely to do with our area of interest. ("Area of interest" can and has been defined broadly.) As I am in the midst of writing, my research files and books are literally all over the house. I dutifully pack it all away at the end of the work day, but we also live in a not so large place with little to no extra space for work. Hence, we have piles.

Now, if I were truly a dutiful and good wife, a virtuous wife for pity's sake, I would have discovered the best way to organize this mess and I would be a better housekeeper. While I cannot quote Proverbs 31, I am familiar with the description of the "perfect wife" and I definitely fall short. Most days, I do not feel too bad about that. One could re-write that to say wife and/or husband. Nothing wrong with Himself putting his hand to the distaff and making her name known at the gates. (And before we go too far, Rosebud, PhD's beloved husband does a great deal of the housework.) Yet, there is a little voice at the back of my head that judges me for not being better at keeping house. I wonder why that is? Is it because I have not moved beyond the expectations for women to be domestic divas? Women can be whatever they want to be now, but if their houses are not in order, there is something not quite right. Is that it? Is this a gender thing, or is this a larger maintaining civilization thing? Does it fall into the category of dressing appropriately when leaving one's house, maintaining one's yard, and generally being a conscientious and involved citizen? Will our society crumble to the ground if my house is cluttered, dusty, and messy? (I would rather not say dirty, because we do avoid throwing actual garbage around.)

Of course the answer for which I am looking is no. No, it will not fall to bits. What may happen, however, are two things. One, we will have to clean it up before we let the outside world in (or at the very least sweep the mess under the carpet); and two, I will stop letting the mess and commenting on it take my attention away from writing (which this afternoon it has, albeit temporarily).