Clean... or make pumpkin pies??

I grew up with a mother who insisted on chores for the kids.   Even the mere mention of the word 'chore' makes my nose crinkle.  Chore..what an awful word.  Kids don't want to do chores, and I don't for one minute buy that crap that it makes us better people.  Having an ability to clean a bathroom at the age of 6 makes you a freak, not a better person.  I'd fill the sink with water, sprinkle in some comet and pretend all the toothbrushes were divers.  I have no idea what a comet coated toothbrush did to myself and the family but I'm sure it wasn't good for business.  I never understood why it was necessary to sweep the floor three times a day, either.  It's not like we were tracking in burrs and thistles from the wild.  We lived on a quiet street with pavement.  The sound of a washing machine filling, agitating and spinning can lull me to sleep.  My mother did about 75 loads of laundry a week; with the machine in the room next to mine that could have been a disaster.  Instead, I got used to letting the sound have the opposite desired effect.  What I didn't get was why so many loads...It's not like she was using different water settings.  Everything was washed in cold water, with the same water level.  So, what was the purpose of seperating out my dad's undershirts and handkerchiefs from the towels and jeans??

So, Marianne and Jim are coming for a week long visit on the 15th.  Hands downs, my mother and my sister are better housekeepers than I am.  My sister has taken the process of cleaning her house to a manic level that is paralleled only in asylums.  She's more my mother's daughter than I am.  I, on the other hand, have little in common with either of my parents when it comes to keeping house.  I'd rather lounge on the sofa after work than paint the bathroom, change the curtains or move the garage 6 inches to the left.  I don't see the purpose of dusting the top of the washing machine or dryer.  Why do I need paper lined cabinets for my pots and pans?  Does anyone ever really see the dust bunny camp beneath my sofa?  If you keeps the lights dim, who really notices the handprints near the lightswitches?  Why bother weeding the garden when it's hot?  In another month I'll just pull the whole shooting match up anyway. 
What I do need to attend to is the refrigerator.  I've got enough dried greens at the bottom of the produce drawers that you'd think I was intentionally drying herbs down there.  The gaskets need attention, as well.  I could move the 'majiuana, hey, at least it's not crack' post card off the front of the refrigerator but then I'd have to clean the door, too. 
The stairway needs to be dusted, polished and vacuumed.  You can write your name with your finger tip on the landing.  Maxi-cat like to poke her paws through the knewels, and you can see a couple of those marks too.
The voodoo dolls and photos on the wall could use the dust rag fairie, too.
There are a few spiderwebs in the foyer.  Admittedly, I don't hang out in there overmuch.  It's really just a jumping ground for the rest of the house.  Shoes are kicked off in there, gym bags deposited, mail and especially bills forgotten.  The only thing of any majour importance in there is the wine fridge.  If the house ever goes up in flames, at least the wine is close enough to an exit that it could probably be saved.
I need to autumnize the front of the house.  That has to be this weekend.  I am hoping to get to that today.  If not, then it's a project I'll have to do after work one day, and you know how inviting that damn sofa is.
I need to get the Fios dude here, too.  When my kids moved out, not only did they take their beds and leave me with the clean up, but the fios situation is poor.  One set up in the living room and one set up in my room are fine.  There is one in the basement that is a complete waste of money and I think one in my son's room that is only satisfying the television watching urges of the above stairs servants.
I should mop the floors.  There's no excuse for the condition of my floors other than I really hate to do it.
I have to clean the bathrooms.  It's times like this I wish I only had one, but I have two and both are not up to the standards of my father and his ever present bottle of Jubilee.

I believe my mother gets her housekeeping habits from her mother, who insisted on folding dirty clothes before they were placed in the hamper.  With these kinds of genes, it's a wonder I'm from this family at all.