On open letter

One of my email accounts has been open for about 10 years now and I use it anytime I need to fill out an online form for anything. Accordingly, it's starting to get rather bogged down with ads, sales notices and spam. Some of it I'm happy to have and some of it is big time over kill. I have a few responses to throw out there:

• Sub-Zero and Wolf: While a room full of your appliances WOULD be my dream kitchen (seriously, I think I just drooled on my keyboard), $2500 in instant savings still doesn't put me anywhere close to any kitchen remodeling budget I'll have anytime soon.
• Land's End: I like your company, I like your products. I buy from you. However, I've been getting at least one email a day from you. It's overkill and I no longer pay attention to them (which is not in your best interest...with fewer emails, I'd be more likely to notice a new sale and actually buy something). What really creeps me out though is your emails are the ONLY ones I cannot delete in bulk. With emails from anyone else, I search for just those emails and easily delete them 25 at a time. When I try to do the same with your emails, my account freezes up. Every time. I don't know why this happens, but it's freaky. Hey, I just realized I can specify to only get one email a week from you. Would've been nice to know that without clicking the "unsubscribe" link
  
• Petsmart: I also buy from you on a regular basis. I don't need 20 emails telling me I can win a dog-friendly Honda element. I don't need dog-friendly at this stage of my life, I need 3 carseat and all associated kid gear friendly (which the Element is not). With the first email, I thought, "oh, that's cool" and hit delete, but now you're getting on my nerves.
• Disney Cruise Lines: Yes, like Sub-Zero and Wolf, you have also tapped into my dreams. A trip with you would be a dream vacation. Unfortunately, while the planning DVD is free, the cruise is not. A big fat sale would do me more good.
• And last, but most certainly NOT least: To the moderator of a certain email group who explained an additional moderator was needed and the job was easy, "just keep the spam off the list"...DUDE--YOU are the source of quite a bit of spam on the list. If it was forwarded to you and doesn't relate to the topic of the group at all, IT'S SPAM! Your emails (and the group's apparent acceptance of/agreement with them) is the main reason I've shied away from taking the time to meet any of you.

Thanks, I feel better now.

A Bizarre Sort of Perfectionist

This time last year, I started on a quest to become a better housekeeper. It actually went really well at first. I made it about a month keeping up with the cleaning schedule and really enjoyed having a clean house for just about an hour's worth of effort each day. But when I started keeping a friend's children part-time and started having a few off days here and there, I used it as a convenient excuse to give up because, well, me and cleaning just don't mix.

It's true that housework seems pointless because something clean never STAYS clean. Another part of it is I'm a perfectionist. I know, I know, it's hard to see my Type A personality through all the play-doh on the floor and the dishes in the sink, but it's there. And since I've never excelled at keeping a SPOTLESS house, cleaning at all seems quite overwhelming because it never gets to the point where it's perfect. So I clean some, but it's not RIGHT, therefore it's not good enough, therefore it's demoralizing, therefore why bother? It's logical, right?

This is where I would lay out some grand scheme, but I don't actually have a grand scheme, just a random thought I happened across today. That cleaning checklist is STILL on my wall right next to the computer. I'm not watching any extra kids and my own are both in school for the next 5 months worth of mornings, so it stands to reason that I have the time to get back on track. But where to start? It'd take days to get it right and I'd have to kick my family out during that time to maintain the progress I'd made. And obviously, if I had kicked my family out, I would NOT waste that time cleaning--I'd float in a bubble bath with a good book and a hot chocolate. Or a margarita, whatever.