When I review my priorities each year on my birthday, one lofty goal remains the same: Maintain our home as a sanctuary for ourselves, our family and our friends.

On each birthday, I promise this will be the year I finally sort through all the accumulated STUFF in our house, recycle or give away anything we don’t need, and find a place for whatever we decide to keep. And get some more pictures up on the walls.

Alas! The goal of a spotlessly clean house with a place for everything and everything in its place, even in the garage and basement, continues to elude me. So I especially love the abundance of housekeeping memes that remind me I’m not alone in my never-ending struggle.

I mean, this seems like a perfectly reasonable question:

This is my story and I’m sticking to it.

Love our cleaning ladies! Can’t wait to get them back once this crazy pandemic is over.

Ah yes! I’ll plead guilty and Pete likes to tease me about it.

I do have to make sure my sweetie Petey sees this one.

Happens to Pete and I every time …

Before I retired, a clean house was also a sign I had a looming project deadline that triggered my procrastination tendencies even worse than housework.

No truer words ever spoken.

I yearn for the magic dustpan that actually does its job.

But, of course, what we really need is some perspective!