So this is why I never do Spring Cleaning . . .

So I've now spent most of the weekend cleaning blinds, walls, baseboards, doors, and organizing rooms. Why would I subject myself to such misery, you may ask? Look, I like a clean house as much as the next person. But this deep cleaning and scrubbing is just not my thing.

And seriously, after all the blinds I've cleaned, I realize now why the last time I cleaned those blinds was . . . hmmm, well, let's see . . . I can't quite remember . . . um, I'll have to get back to you on that one . . . but if I were judging from the layers like you would do to determine the age of a tree, hypothetically, of course, I'd have to guess 3 years (which is when we first hung them up).

Well, anyway, we've decided to sell our house. That's right, we've given up on getting to stay here in the ol' home state. Ellis has a bunch of job interviews that are for schools out of state, and since they all start in August of this year, we thought we'd better get a jump on selling the house.

But you know, while I was cleaning all those wretched blinds and walls, I just kept thinking how I wished I was curled up somewhere reading a book and neglecting, well, pretty much everything else. And that made me think about all the crappy things we have to do as adults that we'd really rather not be doing.

Things I Should Do____________Things I'd Rather Do

Clean the blinds............................Let the blinds gather an inch-thick dust layer
Wash the dishes...........................Leave them in the sink and go watch 30 Rock
Make dinner.................................Eat cold cereal
Go for a run.................................Stay in my warm, comfortable bed
Get the kids ready for school..........See Above
Go to bed early............................Stay up blogging or watching SNL with Ellis
Sweep........................................Get family to stop dropping things
Get kids ready for bed...................Go to bed myself
Eat healthy snacks........................Make repeated trips to the bag of choco chips
Go grocery shopping......................Have a root canal

So, I think I mostly fall somewhere in between these two columns on any given day (some days leaning more severely to the right . . .), but what about the rest of you? I know I'm not the only one out there. 'Fess up. What are some things you do instead of what you know you should be doing?

Halloween Confessions

So, there comes a point on Halloween when you just have to say to yourself, "Okay, I'll save the rest of the candy for the trick-or-treaters."

"Well, one more is not going to make much difference."

[Fishing through the bowl for another Twix.]

"Kids don't really appreciate chocolate anyway."

"Are you telling me some kid isn't going to have enough candy if I don't have any Twix left in this bowl when he gets here?"

[Rifling through the bowl a few minutes later.]

"Hey, did I see some Peanut M&M's left in there?"

"Well, the candy really goes on sale the day of Halloween, so if I have to go grab a couple more bags from the store, I'm really saving money."

[Surreptitiously stashing some wrappers at the bottom of the garbage can.]

"Weird. I could have sworn there were more Milky Way bars in this bowl. Huh."

[Casually] "Uh, what time do those trick-or-treaters start coming around?"

And finally, the annual promise to self: "Seriously, next year I am NOT opening any bags of candy until right before the trick-or-treating starts! I mean it this time."