Next to godliness

I've been with the boy for about two or three years now. We're still going strong, living together and planning on expanding our lives together. He likes the fact I have the horses, and I'm doing something that I genuinely like. I couldn't do much of what I do without him.

But we have a dirty secret.

We're both household messy people.

We let the mail pile up, boxes of ammo hanging around, there's books forming small cities around the couch and a few other things that are out of place and line. There are even boxes that haven't been unpacked for two years and I don't want to look in my closet.

The boy, who has seen me clean a dirt floor barn down to the final detail, shouted in exasperation the other day of how I could care so much about a barn, but not the environment I sleep in. Even my friends, notice the same trend that my horses are often outfitted better than me.

Kind of sad right?


Not really, but I'm not alone.I have friends who at least have an idea what it's like.

My logic behind the selective OCD is two fold. First, the animals don't have a choice. They have to live where I put them and in a particular lifestyle. I can't stand dirty water or food buckets, but I can personally tolerate rinsing and re-using the same glass eighty times. Secondly, when I come home from cleaning what feels like the Agean Stables somedays, I don't want to face my own house. Straw meet camel's back.

I work in a place where I'm partly responsible for Six Sigma, environmental and inventory quality and then I go to the barn where I spend at least another thirty minutes cleaning. I clean, or have some involvement of cleaning, all day.

Sorry, I am my own imported labor.

I'm not complaining about doing my own chores. In fact, I enjoy it. It keeps me involved and gives me a level of information on what's going on with my ponies. It's also therapeutic. Angry, pissed off, upset or just plain aggressive? Grab a your weapon of choice and keep at it until you can't go anymore.

We're getting better about the house, but there's a lot that needs to be done to make it comfortably organized.