The Joy of Cleaning
My friend and I discussed the way, that when we were mere mortals of cleaning, we did not notice certain things actually being, umm...filthy.
Basically a clean house was everything being off the floor. I never even saw the kool-aid drips on a frig, the dust bunnies under the furniture, the yellow ring of "piss not flushed in a timely manner" inside the toilet, the cheerios in the corners of the kitchen or any of that "behind the scenes" dirt at all.
As you get deeper into the thirties, maybe your eye for filth improves somehow or maybe it is just that your life is filled with so many things that you cannot control, as in children, finances, lost dreams, boredom and the like, that you need something to feel as though you have accomplished anything. Any little task that you set out to do and can actually see the results, seem giant now. I realized this yesterday when, as each person came into the kitchen, I opened the frig and freezer door and excalimed, "Look, I beached it all out!! Look how clean it is!!!". Unfortunately, even my enthusiasm did not get them excited, about the spotless innards of my appliances one bit. How rude!
This disease takes hold of the laundry as well. I used to add detergent, stuff to beyond capacity and pull out the knob. Sometimes I even remembered to put them in the dryer before I had to repeat the wash, because I , like, forgot about it and now it smells like basement.
There was not a lot of fabric softener, dryer sheets or stain remover in my past. Now I go looking for new scents, new ways to remove stain products, and the loads are half the size they could be cause, "the clothes get cleaner that way". I'm a genius!! I give myself a pat on the back and try and show people Brooke's little white shirt that had a variety of condiments on it but now is glowing white!! Yipee!!
I watch my children's faces when they say they are inviting people over and I scream, "When??? The house is a mess!!" The poor naive souls say, "IT is NOT, it looks fine. Why do you think it is a MESS??" Ahh, if they only understood the dirt they will not see for some 15-20 years. It makes me tear a little from nostalgia.
Do I still let the house go and get 20's dirty? Hell yeah, and sometimes teenager filthy (if laundry is dirty long enough, it is clean again) when I am in a "screw this place and all of your messes" kind of mood. But more often, I find myself dusting, sweeping, and carry around my trusty bottle of windex which I use each time Brooke touches the sliding glass door with her sticky, adorable, little toddler hands.
And, so, it is a lonely joy, but I carry on with my new super powers of dirt detecting and sometimes, rarely, someone says, "Wow, the house looks nice", to which I reply "Don't mess it up and take those filthy shoes off!! You're are getting shit all over the kitchen floor I JUST mopped!!! Geezeeeeeee...Why do I even try........".
I have officially become my mother. God, help me.
Basically a clean house was everything being off the floor. I never even saw the kool-aid drips on a frig, the dust bunnies under the furniture, the yellow ring of "piss not flushed in a timely manner" inside the toilet, the cheerios in the corners of the kitchen or any of that "behind the scenes" dirt at all.
As you get deeper into the thirties, maybe your eye for filth improves somehow or maybe it is just that your life is filled with so many things that you cannot control, as in children, finances, lost dreams, boredom and the like, that you need something to feel as though you have accomplished anything. Any little task that you set out to do and can actually see the results, seem giant now. I realized this yesterday when, as each person came into the kitchen, I opened the frig and freezer door and excalimed, "Look, I beached it all out!! Look how clean it is!!!". Unfortunately, even my enthusiasm did not get them excited, about the spotless innards of my appliances one bit. How rude!
This disease takes hold of the laundry as well. I used to add detergent, stuff to beyond capacity and pull out the knob. Sometimes I even remembered to put them in the dryer before I had to repeat the wash, because I , like, forgot about it and now it smells like basement.
There was not a lot of fabric softener, dryer sheets or stain remover in my past. Now I go looking for new scents, new ways to remove stain products, and the loads are half the size they could be cause, "the clothes get cleaner that way". I'm a genius!! I give myself a pat on the back and try and show people Brooke's little white shirt that had a variety of condiments on it but now is glowing white!! Yipee!!
I watch my children's faces when they say they are inviting people over and I scream, "When??? The house is a mess!!" The poor naive souls say, "IT is NOT, it looks fine. Why do you think it is a MESS??" Ahh, if they only understood the dirt they will not see for some 15-20 years. It makes me tear a little from nostalgia.
Do I still let the house go and get 20's dirty? Hell yeah, and sometimes teenager filthy (if laundry is dirty long enough, it is clean again) when I am in a "screw this place and all of your messes" kind of mood. But more often, I find myself dusting, sweeping, and carry around my trusty bottle of windex which I use each time Brooke touches the sliding glass door with her sticky, adorable, little toddler hands.
And, so, it is a lonely joy, but I carry on with my new super powers of dirt detecting and sometimes, rarely, someone says, "Wow, the house looks nice", to which I reply "Don't mess it up and take those filthy shoes off!! You're are getting shit all over the kitchen floor I JUST mopped!!! Geezeeeeeee...Why do I even try........".
I have officially become my mother. God, help me.
posted by Sunny at Wednesday, August 16, 2006
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