News Flash: Martha's NOT Coming Over

Okay, all you perfectionists, get this into your head: Martha is NOT coming over. That's right; your home need not be perfect, every nook and cranny scrubbed clean, no clutter in sight, each room a stunning vignette.

Ask yourself, if I went to a friend's house and it looked like this, would I still enjoy being there?

When a home gets really messy, people are often surprised that the resident is a perfectionist. That's because a perfectionist says,"If I can't do it perfectly, I may as well not start."

See if this sounds like you:

• If you have ever started to clean your kitchen, and ended up scrubbing just the top of the stove, you might be a perfectionist.

• If you've ever bought storage containers for your storage containers, you might be a perfectionist.

• If you've ever shined the back of the toilet until you could see your face in it, but had to climb over a pile of laundry to get out of the bathroom, you might be a perfectionist.

• If a pan has been sitting in your kitchen sink for a week because you don't have the right scrubby for it, you might be a perfectionist.

RELAX! If you just give your home a "once over" cleaning each week or so, it will be fine. Yeah, yeah, there may be a dust bunny under the sofa, but the path to the sofa will be clean.

The picture above was taken in my kitchen less than an hour ago. The chive flowers are past their peak, the eggs are still dirty (you do know where they come from, right?) and there is a brown banana in the background. But if you were to drop by my house, you might have a fabulous omelette with fresh herbs for lunch. And maybe a banana smoothie.