Goodness, I have really dropped the ball on our Wednesday "Small Things!" Let's do one together today...but first a lil' story:
Awhile back, we were at our son's final hockey tournament for a whole weekend, and left the house in rush to get there. Like a whirling dirvish, I had picked up the house and made the beds and did a quick wipe-down of the kitchen. I'm weird that way....I don't like to come home to a mess. I couldn't quite get to the dishes in the sink, but oh, well.
As we packed up to leave, we remembered: The Dog.
Being as old and decrepit as he was, we couldn't leave him outside overnight because of the cold temperatures. But knowing he had a bladder the size of New Jersey, we decided to leave him inside in the hopes that we would be able to get ahold of our neighbors to let him out. Well, sure enough, my BFF friend kindly stopped over and did the honor of letting old Beau out to do his business. I still owe her for this, big time.
Nothing like waiting for someone else's dog to poo.
And in the back of my mind, I wondered again about the state of the house. I couldn't remember if it was just "kind of presentable" or "really bad." I mean, I thought I straightened things, but did I?
Just what did my friend SEE when she opened the door?
As soon as we pulled up to the drive, I jumped out of the car like a bat out of, well...you know. I opened the door to the house. Yep, dishes in the sink. Jacket thrown over the chair. Back room a disaster.
It was just as I remembered, somewhere in the "kind of presentable" range.
And then I started to really see.
I began seeing as if looking through my neighbor's eyes.
Crumbs on the counter. Are the kitchen appliances really that dusty? That flower arrangement in the bathroom is just SAD! What's up with the couch slip cover! Man, Labradors really shed. Fruit on the counter is going bad. The fridge door is full of fingerprints. The bookshelf looks cluttered.
There was so much I didn't see when I was looking at my house through my own eyes. But when I "put on" my friend's eyes, suddenly I was seeing all KINDS of new things!
Using a fresh set of eyes opened a whole new world of observation.
Today's Small Thing is to "put on" a fresh set of eyes....but not for your entire house.
Just for your kitchen.
What is the first thing you would notice if you were a new guest? Piles of junk mail? Last night's dishes? Rice stuck to your stove top?
If you knew that someone was going to stop in to visit in say, 10-15 minutes, what things would you tidy up in your kitchen?
Probably not the inside of your oven, or the vegetable bin in your fridge.
You might scoop up the counter debris and deposit it somewhere, give the floor a quick sweep and at least get the dishes stacked next to the sink.
Just enough so that your new friend would be under the impression that you are industriously neat.
Set a timer....GO!!!
