This weekend I spent quite a while thinking about rules.

My rules.

The thing that started me on this happened on Friday. I had straightened the house like I usually do, then after the kids had been home from school for what seemed like 15 seconds everything was a mess.

Then a friend called and wanted to stop by. Straighten up.

Then it was time for dinner. Straighten up again.

Then time for bed. Straighten up again.

The same scenarios continued on Saturday, and by the end of the day it seemed like all I’d done was straighten. Endless straightening. By Sunday morning I was thinking to myself, “What’s wrong here? This is my house, yet I feel like I never get to live in it.”

I realized, finally, that there are a million or more ways for my house to look and feel — to me — like it’s messy. But there’s only one way for everything to look and feel clean — again, to me.

Hmmm.

So I’ve created this little internal rule, reinforced from infancy by she-who-must-be-0beyed, and nurtured by my love of things like issues of House Beautiful and my Laura Ashley book on home decorating. Things must be in place. It is my responsibility to make sure this happens. These have been the rules.

The problem is, with three kids, a hubby, a dog, and the-world’s-longest-living-guppy, nothing is ever in its place. The guppy is the only one who does his fair share in that area.

The only way my rule can work is if I commit to having a full-time housekeeper — and we were actually fired by our housekeeper for being too messy (but that’s a tale for another day).

So I’m working on revising my rule. Apparently it seems possible, although I’m still struggling with it. I’m thinking the new rule might be that my house is clean if the chores have been basically taken care of and if things get straightened once a day. What do you think?

Of course, that means I’ll be living in the equivalent of a Playskool crackden for the time being…

An update on last week’s request…

Last week, I put out there into cyberspace that I was ready to take on two new coaching clients. Guess what? I got a call from a former client who told me she was ready to move forward again and we had an amazing session. So that was awesome. Thank you, Gods of the Internet, for helping that happen. That was wonderful.

This week’s requests…

Yes, there is space for one more coaching client, someone who’s ready to move forward with a thing and who loves Effie. You’ll know who you are.

And, as I’ve alluded to previously, there is a new thing that I have and I’m ready to start talking about it to others. Basically, I connect people to something that can really change their lives. So if you are stuck and “sick of being sick of” it, then I’d love to hear from you and share this thing — and see what you think.

Is there something you’d like to ask for? I promise to listen, and to reflect with you in an honest and caring way about it. And to add your request to my own wishes. Feel welcome to leave a comment and let everyone know.