Mud, by any other name

The first rule of housekeeping, clean it as soon as you see it.  Piece of paper on the floor, pick it up.  Jelly smudge on the fridge handle, wipe it up.  Mud on the stool in the bathroom, clean it ... right away. 

It was spring.  I had three children, ages 4 and under (in fact the 4-year-old might not have been 4, yet).  At some point, mud was tracked into the house, and wiped off of one's foot, onto the stool in the main floor bathroom.

Now, I knew it was mud.  It wasn't a lot of mud, just a smear.  But, there it dried, on the bathroom stool.

A few weeks later, and yes the bathroom would have been cleaned between then and now, we invite friends over for dinner.  They came, the kids played, the adults talked, we ate, everyone had a good time; and I'm sure someone, during the course of the evening, used the bathroom. 

After that visit I walked into the bathroom and realized, what I know to be mud, probably didn't look like mud to our visitors.  In fact, it probably looked like a preschooler had a bit too much free rein in the bathroom. 

Did I mention I had 3 children, barely 4-years-old, and younger, and I wasn't on any type of medication. 

So, if you have ever laughed at that first rule of housekeeping, and thought to yourself "if I cleaned every piece of dirt I saw I wouldn't move the stove to the fridge, remember, what is mud to you, may not look like mud to someone else. 

Lesson learned.