Saturday, January 30, 2010

Clean, You Slovenly Wench, Clean!

Woke up before dawn this morning (which isn't hard to do this time of year) and laid there in the dark thinking. Thinking it felt so good in bed and the rest of the house wouldn't feel nearly as warm and comfortable. Thinking about all the areas of my house that need a good cleaning.

I think this was sparked by the fact that I pulled a pair of shoes out of the bottom back of my closet yesterday and they had dust balls clinging to the laces. Hmm, when was the last time I took everything off the floor and vacuumed in there?

The little area that is my pantry becomes a messy hodge-podge of things stuffed in anywhere there's room (not near enough space in there for what I try to store) almost immediately after I sort and clean the shelves. I have to haul a stool over every time I need to get out or put away anything on the top shelf of only four so I have been known to actually toss things up onto that highest shelf and hope it doesn't fall back out on me.

My quilt studio has never been dirtier. My husband asks how a quilt studio can possibly get "dirty." It's amazing the amount of threads, scraps of fabric, dust, lint and fuzz that end up not only on the floor but on all surfaces, when it's not dusted and cleaned regularly. Because I haven't had as much time in there to quilt this winter as I've wanted, I think I've avoided spending the time I do have cleaning.

We have lots of books on bookshelves and in bookcases. I talked last fall about the need to pull all of them out and dust the books along with dusting and cleaning the shelves. Haven't gotten to that yet.

My desk. Oh, my desk. I need to sit at my desk for about three days straight going through drawers cleaning and organizing. My one big file drawer is so stuffed full I have a hard time pulling a file out let alone trying to put a new file in. I know I could whittle the files down to about half if I took the time to sort through and throw out obsolete material.

I remember once when I was working full-time outside the home. A co-worker had quit to have a baby and was visiting work one day when she remarked that she was bored silly at home. She said, "Well, I cook and clean and what else is there to do?" I thought at the time that I must have been doing something wrong. I was sure I could be home full-time and not have enough time for all my cooking and cleaning. ('Course, in all fairness to me - yay, me! - at the time I had a huge garden, we had milk goats and poultry, were raising and bottle feeding an orphaned fawn, building our house and had no running water.)

Granted, the everyday (day after day after day!) things get done and I'm sure no one walking into my house thinks it's filthy.

But did I eventually pop out of my warm, cozy bed this morning and start cleaning? No, not yet, but as you can see from this post, I'm still thinking about it.

11 comments:

Claire said...

Don't worry; I just finally cleaned some breast milk storage bags (empty, of course) and pumping supplies out of my bedside stand...from a year and a half ago, based on the dates on the bags!!!

Mama Pea said...

Hi, Claire - At least the bags were empty. ;o)

Chicken Mama said...

Oh, Mom. You silly, silly woman. (Perspective is such a funny thing.)

If YOUR house is dirty . . . just WHAT does that make mine????

P.S. H is worried about having you to their house for our gals'-day because she thinks you are the EPITOME of hospitality & cleanliness (which is true). "What is she going to THINK of our house?! Oh, I HAVE to clean!"

Mama Pea said...

Hey, Chickie Mama - Isn't it strange how we see our own dirt and gringy spots but we don't see the same thing in other people's homes??

Regarding H's comment, for Pete's sake, let's all chip in and get that girl eye glasses! I am so flattered to hear anyone say I'm the epitome of hospitality and cleanliness, but let's get real here! And I'm not going to her house to look at it . . . JUST GIMME THAT BABY TO HOLD THE WHOLE TIME!

Erin said...

you are right on the money with the way other people see our houses! I probably look like a freak maniac to otheres when it comes to cleaning but to me all I see is what I haven't done yet! That's funny about the bookshelves, just the other day I did a draft post about my Spring (Winter) cleaning rampage and there are pictures of my living room with no furniture in it except for empty bookshelves and stacks of books on the floor. It seems like this cleaning thing is going around this year. Although to us gardeners, if we manage to do any "Spring Cleaning", it makes sense to do it in the winter since we are too busy come Spring!

Mama Pea said...

Hey, Erin - I know, I know. I'm already starting to panic about not having gotten enough stuff done inside this winter (and it's only the end of January) and thinking about how busy it's going to be when I need to be outside in the spring.

Never enough time, is there?

Jenyfer Matthews said...

Must be that time of year. My bedroom is the place where all the stuff that doesn't have a permanent home ends up and at present is such a mess I don't even like to go in there.

This weekend I finally decided to shovel off the dresser - and while I was at it I polished and waxed it as well in addition to finally (finally!) sorting through the mess and removing anything that didn't belong there (much of it ended up in the trash!)

The dresser looks great - now for the other half of the room!!

Mama Pea said...

Hi, Jen - Good for you for diving into your bedroom cleaning! (Doesn't your dresser look nice now?) Now if I could just decide WHICH area I should start on first . . .

Jenyfer Matthews said...

Like most things, it wouldn't be such a chore if I did it more often!

Katidids said...

Boy this post hits home! I try to do all the deep cleaning thru the winter and this year PFFT! So, I'm diving in. Yes, our room seems to become the catch all for unclaimed items..I shoveled it all out yesterday. I ended up with a laundry basket full of little things I'd been shuffling around for months. I grabbed DH saying I need your help...2 hrs later he everything sorted and tossed or put away..LOVE IT..it's the litle things that get me!

Mama Pea said...

Hi, Katie - If only more men would get it that it IS the little things that mean so much to women. (But I know we have a long way to go in understanding men, too) :o)

Thanks for commenting!