After a brief kid-filled pool party this morning with a friend's MOPS group (we were rained out after an hour), I returned with my wee whiners to the house. Fun time was over. Today was the day. I had put it off for four months, and there was no turning back.
It was time to Clean the Room.
Back in May, when my parents flew out of the country, I moved up into the Skyhouse, their charming attic suite. Which has since become less charming and more lived-in-by-children. This freed up the second-floor room where I had been staying since January, and on Monday a young couple is moving in there as renters.
The problem is that I am a slob. I am also the queen of procrastinators. Therefore, I moved the things I wanted up into the Skyhouse and left behind a nice variety of extraneous minutiae, such as my winter clothing and my jeans that don't fit any more (they're too big!) and craft supplies and books I'd already read. And there they have sat, collecting dust mites.
So today I put an Imagination Movers DVD on for the kidlets, turned my MP3 player to the Garden State soundtrack, plugged in the earbuds, and got down to work.
I swear my stuff must have procreated, because I don't remember having that much in there.
Today, despite the rain, is stifling hot and, due to the rain, horribly humid. That room hasn't had the windows open or a fan running in months, and there's no central air in this house. So after only fifteen minutes my shirt was sticking to my skin, my bra was rubbing damply beneath my boobs, and my hair was plastered attractively to my face. Great fun.
By the time everything was packed up and the bed was stripped and I could put my brother to work lugging my things upstairs, the soundtrack was over and the kidlets were beating each other up in the living room. So I am now sitting on the couch while DramaBoy complains about the show availability on TV, luxuriating in the breeze sweeping through the windows. Shortly, DramaBoy will have to deal with my own choice of show. And I will cheerfully ignore the enormous pile of clutter up in the Skyhouse until I can't avoid tidying up there as well.
Holy cannoli, but I am pooped. This cleaning thing is so overrated.
10 years ago
10 bits of love:
There is nothing more rewarding than cleaning, moving things, or both, on a day with high humidity.
Hmmm -- you didn't have much to work with, but you worked yourself into a sweaty tizzy! It's okay, hon: you got the important part done. Renters can move in. And one of these days you'll get motivated to clean up the Skyhouse. I've tried fruitlessly to communicate my philosophy to my kids ("prevent chaos!!") but I've obviously failed. You all seem to get by somehow. And I love you anyway. And there's hope for youin another sector of life: pretty soon you'll be getting cool weather, with very different humidity. Enjoy!
grammar on blog posts is for suckers. (Grammar for your poli sci paper is absolutely unavoidable. Thus my 4.0 GPA proves I can do it, but only if I have to.)
(Which is just like a politician.)
Also? I hate cleaning.
I'm with you, Cleaning Up is soooo overrated. The End.
I know it's overrated, but I try to tell myself over and over again that it, too, is exercise. So the sweatier the better.
I agree. Cleaning so over-rated. Seriously - life is short. There are so many better things to do. Increasing entropy is the natural state of things, and trying to fight a constant battle with a law of thermodynamics is just plain exhausting and futile.
MuttonChopsHubby does not agree with me, but he should know better, being an Engineer and all.
- SoccerSister
That wasn't terribly motivating. I will think sympathetic thoughts of you when I get around to prepping my space for departure soon.
At least by the team I get to packing (and cleaning?) in serious fashion the worst of the summer humidity will be over. I hope.
Good for you for tackling the job. Better for rewarding yourself for struggling through it.
So I was google-searching your blog at work to read on my lunch break (I was deeply disappointed there wasn't a new one up yet), and I accidentally typed in "diapers and drag." Good thing I wasn't searching images... but I don't suppose my work's firewall would have let me see those sites anyhow...
- SoccerSister
I am so with you sweetie! Trying to clean, exercise or anything physical in the Michigan heat & humidity is way overrated. And I sweat enough without all the extra work, thank you. But at least you got it done. Salut!
my mom, my cousin/best friend and my sister-in-law recently came over for an all-day "fall cleaning" session. it was great. it inspired me to clean out and organize my kitchen cabinets (something i used to do once or twice a year, but which i haven't even thought about in 4 years). i found my cappuccino machine i was sure i gave to goodwill. and i was so happy!
aaanyway, do you have a group of family/friends (we call ours "the casserole patrol") you can call on to help? if i were within a thousands miles of you, i'd come over and help. (and my little guy loves imagination movers, too!)
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