First, you readers are amazing. Thank you for sharing your stories of dust and woe, most of which were hilarious, almost all of which were recognizable. It makes us feel so much better to know there are other people out there convinced that everyone else’s house is always cleaner than theirs. But there was one story in particular that made us laugh out loud. Is it because there is a cat butt involved? Very, very possibly. But we just can’t pass up the wonder that is this Confess Your Mess story. Congratulations, Cathy! You win!

I’ve got two cats, a one year-old daughter, a sort of absent-minded mad genius type husband, and zero talent or desire for housework. The litterboxes are sequestered in their own bathroom, which does have a gate across it. Sure, we have the usual tracking issues, but lately the chubby kitty has taken to hanging his butt outside of the litterbox when he poops. Apparently, it is “freeing” and I’m just trying to oppress him by asking that he keep his ass inside. The other cat, the neurotic one, would really rather we kept all surfaces clear of clutter and mess. Clutter like my full water glass, my keyboard and mouse, our dinner plates, etc. There are quite a few broken things that need sweeping/vacuuming up.

Then there are the cockroaches. Now, I’m not *that* horrible, but we do live in south Texas. It doesn’t matter how clean you are, you will have the occasional roach, especially in a house as ill-sealed as ours. So I kill roaches, my husband kills roaches, the baby doesn’t yet, but oh she will, and of course, the cats bring down their fair share. While I appreciate our valiant hunters, this does mean we get roach corpses in places that are a bit difficult to get at, i.e. under bookcases.

The kiddo eats graham crackers… everywhere. So there are graham cracker crumbs, you guessed it, everywhere. She’s also discovered the joy of Cheerios. She comes by this breadcrumb trail behavior honestly. I can tell where her father has been by the trail of popcorn bits that he’s dropped. The man eats crackers in bed, y’all. That dustbuster could keep me from sleeping on cracker crumbs! (Which are irritatingly pokey, and you never sweep off quite all of them.)

There’s more, but if I go on, someone might try to take my kid. Actually, if you promise to take the husband too, I’ll continue to dish on why everyone else is a better housekeeper.

Thanks for the laugh, Cathy, and thanks to everyone who entered. Let’s all raise our DustBusters high to toast 30 years of easy cleanup, and many fewer messes. Thanks, Black & Decker!

If you’d like a laugh, be sure to see the rest of the comments on the DustBuster contest. And if you missed the deadline, feel free to confess your mess here — like hanging off the edge of the catbox, it’s freeing!