I put off cleaning Baby Boy's room until almost the very end of my great endeavor. I really did have a logical reason: it's easiest for me to clean while kids are sleeping, and he sleeps the most often, but I can't clean while he's asleep in his room. Basically, today I took advantage of a rare opportunity: he was awake, but content to play alone in his infant bouncer; the girls were both asleep. Also, it was pretty incredible to see that, once I finally got started, this may have been the lightest cleaning job I've had yet!
Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture and fan
2. Clean windows and blinds
3. Clean door frames
4. Dust furniture
5. Clean baseboards
6. Vacuum floor
As I started at the top, I realized that Baby Boy's room was probably the cleanest in the house. Why? We painted it right before we moved him in there, which was a short six months ago (only I would call six months "short" in regards to cleaning). Before we painted, we cleaned the entire room, so it was in pretty good shape. I started, as I always do, by washing the light fixture globes and wiping down the fan blades (which I cleaned with ACV).
I moved from there to Windexing the only window in the room and cleaning out the window tracks. Again, it was reasonably clean, which surprised me; I'm not an expert here, but it seems to me that the east/west facing windows have been significantly less dirty than the north/south facing ones. Also, the windows that face the neighbors' house are cleaner, and this particular window fit both criteria. There were no dog nose-prints, no dead spiders or frogs in the tracks, and even minimal outside dirt. Another happy surprise was that the blinds didn't need cleaning at all; Mini-me used to be in that room, and had pulled down her blinds a few months before. We bought new ones (more specifically, she did), and they have been closed and hidden behind light-blocking curtains ever since then.
The dirtiest place in the room ended up being the outside lower surface of the bedroom door. Years' worth of grimy fingerprints had definitely taken their toll, and it took a cloth with ACV, followed by a Lysol wipe, followed by a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, to clean the door to my satisfaction. After that chore, the dust that I wiped off the surface of the frame seemed like nothing.
Again, the furniture was relatively dust-free, and I am seeing a pattern in Baby Boy's room and the girls' room: they have less surface area and less clutter ON the surface area, so there's less dust. It was really quick to clean all his furniture -- like, less than five minutes. Hmm...maybe I should reduce display items in other areas of the house as well, if it's this easy to clean. On second thought, that would mean doing yet another purge of my books, and I don't think I've got the stomach for it...
I finished up by quickly wiping down the baseboards, which, again, were much cleaner than other baseboards in the house have been. I moved all the furniture to do a thorough vacuuming, used the hose attachment to get a few stubborn bugs in a corner, and was done with the entire project in less than an hour (about the time, incidentally, that Baby Boy decided he was tired of being alone and was ready for dinner).
Showing posts with label children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label children. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Counting my Blessings
I found myself "laboring" over a lengthy series of chores this past weekend. I'm still short of having the entire house cleaned through once, but I have a never-ending list of things that I need to take care of on a daily basis: laundry, cooking, dishes, vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, cleaning bathrooms...etc. Don't get me wrong; I'm taking a great deal of pride in the way the house looks now, and I am experiencing a greater level of confidence in my homemaking abilities. It's just that I felt a little overwhelmed by the fact that these tasks are never going to end.
Then I remembered something I read a few weeks ago, suggesting a technique that will help us homemakers avoid thinking about our daily work as drudgery. We should think of it, instead, as a blessing.
I had to clean TWO toilets. How incredibly blessed I am that I have TWO toilets in my house! There are millions of people in the world who have none. There are millions more who have one, but not two. And look at the products I have at my fingertips to keep the toilets sanitary and shining; I have no worries that my children are going to come into contact with some terrible disease because they used an unsanitary toilet.
I had to wash an entire sink full of dishes. Wow, we have dishes! How many people out there don't? How many people in the world only wish that they had enough food to cook and serve on dishes in the first place? How many more don't have the water to clean themselves or their plates with -- or, if they do have water, had to walk three miles to get it in a bucket?
I had to clean out two bathtubs and a stand-up shower. Suddenly, that seems like an extraordinary privilege more than it does a chore. I take a bath -- every single day -- in clean, hot, running water. I don't have to share my tub with anyone except my own family.
When I ran the vacuum, I thought about the comfort our rug brought the family and the convenience of electricity that allowed me to do so in the first place. When I folded my kids' clothes, I considered how fortunate they were to have beautiful, comfortable, serviceable clothes (more than they will ever need) provided by people who love them dearly. When I swept Cheerios off the kitchen floor, I thanked God that I had two arms and two legs and the strength and health to keep my house tidy. As I did each task, I earnestly considered the many ways in which I had been blessed.
Here's the thing: I have heard "count your blessings" all my life, and I have done it so many times when it comes to the people and things in my life (husband, kids, friends, home, job, etc.). But I don't think that I have ever once honestly considered how even that which I think of as hard work or an undesirable chore is still evidence of the many, many gifts in my life. It was the strangest thing to find myself grinning and close to tears as I scrubbed toilets and floors and folded burp cloths, but it was also the most joy I've ever gotten from housework.
Then I remembered something I read a few weeks ago, suggesting a technique that will help us homemakers avoid thinking about our daily work as drudgery. We should think of it, instead, as a blessing.
I had to clean TWO toilets. How incredibly blessed I am that I have TWO toilets in my house! There are millions of people in the world who have none. There are millions more who have one, but not two. And look at the products I have at my fingertips to keep the toilets sanitary and shining; I have no worries that my children are going to come into contact with some terrible disease because they used an unsanitary toilet.
I had to wash an entire sink full of dishes. Wow, we have dishes! How many people out there don't? How many people in the world only wish that they had enough food to cook and serve on dishes in the first place? How many more don't have the water to clean themselves or their plates with -- or, if they do have water, had to walk three miles to get it in a bucket?
I had to clean out two bathtubs and a stand-up shower. Suddenly, that seems like an extraordinary privilege more than it does a chore. I take a bath -- every single day -- in clean, hot, running water. I don't have to share my tub with anyone except my own family.
When I ran the vacuum, I thought about the comfort our rug brought the family and the convenience of electricity that allowed me to do so in the first place. When I folded my kids' clothes, I considered how fortunate they were to have beautiful, comfortable, serviceable clothes (more than they will ever need) provided by people who love them dearly. When I swept Cheerios off the kitchen floor, I thanked God that I had two arms and two legs and the strength and health to keep my house tidy. As I did each task, I earnestly considered the many ways in which I had been blessed.
Here's the thing: I have heard "count your blessings" all my life, and I have done it so many times when it comes to the people and things in my life (husband, kids, friends, home, job, etc.). But I don't think that I have ever once honestly considered how even that which I think of as hard work or an undesirable chore is still evidence of the many, many gifts in my life. It was the strangest thing to find myself grinning and close to tears as I scrubbed toilets and floors and folded burp cloths, but it was also the most joy I've ever gotten from housework.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice...right?
In the old nursery rhyme, little girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice. Well, today I deep-cleaned the girls' room, and let me tell you...there was not a bit of any of that in sight. What DID I find? Spiders, snails, and puppy dog [hair]. I think the writer of the nursery rhyme was confused.
Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture
2. Dust all surfaces
3. Clean window
4. Wipe down doors
5. Clean baseboards
6. Vacuum
First of all: the light fixture was done immediately, so I had no excuse to say later that I forgot about it.
I dusted the room, and it seemed like it was more dusty than other parts of the house. It also seems to be the warmest room in the house because of a large window, so I wonder whether that has something to do with the air conditioning unit's attempt to work in overdrive.
The window took more scrubbing than the ones in other rooms have. The Best likes (liked?) to sit with her head propped on the window sill and her nose pressed to the glass, which meant a lot of dirt and smudges to deal with. It was when I opened the window to clean the tracks, though, that I got my biggest surprise. The girls' window sits just over our "garden" -- a small patch of mulched dirt with a few sago palms and flowers growing in it. My theory is that the bugs, frogs, and grime I found in the window originated in the garden. The window track was coated with some sort of green slime that probably came from the sprinkler. I know that we have lots of little frogs around, especially in the summer; several met their ends stuck between the window glass and the screen of the girls' bedroom. And, yes, there were dead spiders and a snail. (I have no idea how the snail got there; however, I have seen one in the garden before, so my theory is that s/he somehow climbed the brick and entered in at a crevice.)
I pulled out a new tool when wiping down the doors today: my Up & Up "magic eraser" from Target. Those things are fantastic for removing fingerprints, pencil and crayon marks, and muddy streaks from both doors and walls.
Cleaning the baseboards was uneventful, but things got interesting again when it was time to vacuum. Cuddles and Mini-me entered the room, and they both wanted to help me vacuum the floor. There was almost a fight over it. This is the documentation: when they are teenagers and try to shirk their chores, I will remind them that there once was a day when they fought for the privilege of doing them!
Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture
2. Dust all surfaces
3. Clean window
4. Wipe down doors
5. Clean baseboards
6. Vacuum
First of all: the light fixture was done immediately, so I had no excuse to say later that I forgot about it.
I dusted the room, and it seemed like it was more dusty than other parts of the house. It also seems to be the warmest room in the house because of a large window, so I wonder whether that has something to do with the air conditioning unit's attempt to work in overdrive.
The window took more scrubbing than the ones in other rooms have. The Best likes (liked?) to sit with her head propped on the window sill and her nose pressed to the glass, which meant a lot of dirt and smudges to deal with. It was when I opened the window to clean the tracks, though, that I got my biggest surprise. The girls' window sits just over our "garden" -- a small patch of mulched dirt with a few sago palms and flowers growing in it. My theory is that the bugs, frogs, and grime I found in the window originated in the garden. The window track was coated with some sort of green slime that probably came from the sprinkler. I know that we have lots of little frogs around, especially in the summer; several met their ends stuck between the window glass and the screen of the girls' bedroom. And, yes, there were dead spiders and a snail. (I have no idea how the snail got there; however, I have seen one in the garden before, so my theory is that s/he somehow climbed the brick and entered in at a crevice.)
I pulled out a new tool when wiping down the doors today: my Up & Up "magic eraser" from Target. Those things are fantastic for removing fingerprints, pencil and crayon marks, and muddy streaks from both doors and walls.
Cleaning the baseboards was uneventful, but things got interesting again when it was time to vacuum. Cuddles and Mini-me entered the room, and they both wanted to help me vacuum the floor. There was almost a fight over it. This is the documentation: when they are teenagers and try to shirk their chores, I will remind them that there once was a day when they fought for the privilege of doing them!
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Preventative Maintenance
Cuddles turned two on Monday. It's been difficult for me to adjust; I've been identifying her age in months for...well...24 months now. I can't believe I have a two-year-old!
On Monday, we celebrated ourselves; Mini-me and I sang her "Happy Birthday" in the morning, and I made brownie cupcakes for a special treat after dinner. Her party, though, is today. All grandparents, aunts, and uncles are invited, and that means I'll have about ten people in the house. Time to clean!
Saturday morning, My Love took the girls to the park so that I could get some work done. I started the washing machine, then got busy. I assumed I had several hours' work ahead of me; that's been the description of most of my cleaning sprees thus far. However (I timed it), I had the house shining in an hour and eight minutes. Pretty impressive! And I can identify exactly why the job was so quick and easy: the house wasn't dirty...at least not dirty enough that I normally would have said it "needed" cleaning. There was no visible dust and no debris on the carpet. Still, I dusted all surfaces in all the common areas, swept the hallway and kitchen (I DID turn up a pretty respectable pile of crumbs there), and ran the vacuum. By the time my family swept back into the house at 10:38, I was emptying the dust pan into the garbage can and looking with pride at a clean house!
All members of our family have seen the home at its worst (specifically, when there was a newborn in the house), so there's no real need to impress them. However, it does make me feel good to hone my hostessing abilities and set a nice backdrop for Cuddles's party. She won't remember it, of course, and I hope that our guests will care more about the event itself than the clean carpets. I guess, in the end, today' activities were mostly for my own satisfaction, and I'm proud to report that housekeeping is fast becoming a habit!
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
My apologies
If anyone other than immediate family has used our "guest" (front) bathroom within the past month...I owe you a sincere apology.
I had no idea there was a spider living behind the door, subsisting quite comfortably on the fat crop of bugs in his web. (We're working on getting Mini-me to close the door when she uses the bathroom, so he'd had complete privacy for a while.)
It's news to me that, if you don't wash the storage bag for the bath toys, it will leave a soap scum silhouette on the bathtub wall. (Duly noted; this is a new monthly chore!)
Who'd have guessed that Cuddles enjoys chewing on toothbrushes, and that there were three half-digested toothbrushes stored under the sink on top of the stack of fresh towels? (In the future, they will be stored in a secure location.)
In short...this bathroom needed a lot of attention, and it finally got it tonight after the kiddos went to sleep.
Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture
2. Clean mirror
3. Clean sink
4. Clean toilet
5. Clean tub
6. Wash all bath toys, rugs, and towels
7. Wipe down baseboards and mop floor
The light fixture was the same kind as the one in the master bath, but smaller, so I made short work of that. After cleaning and re-installing the bulbs and shining the mirror behind them, the light in the bathroom was almost blinding. The bathroom is painted bright orange -- the kids love it! -- and it was sort of like working in a giant highlighter.
Cleaning the sink was no special chore, but I did take a moment to marvel at the amount of pink toothpaste two small girls can manage to affix to a bathroom sink.
It was when I started tackling the toilet that I noticed the full extent of the bathroom's need for attention. The toilet itself wasn't bad; I take pride in cleaning out the bowl and the surface about once a week. However, the floor around it was in rough shape. Here's the thing: the wasted space in the master bath seems to have appeared at the cost of space in the front bath, and it's a tight little room. There's not really room to mop or sweep, so...I just let it go. I'll be brutally honest when I say I can't remember the last time I mopped this bathroom. On the floor and in the corners around the toilet were dust, dog hair, toothpaste drops, dead bugs, tiny rubber bands, toddler hair, sand...the list goes on. Honestly, I was so appalled at my lack of effort in keeping the floor at least moderately clean that I scrubbed it with renewed vigor on my hands and knees. I made three passes: once with ammonia while cleaning the toilet, once with apple cider vinegar, and once with a Lysol wipe for good measure. By golly, that floor sparkled when I was done with it!
I took a break from the floor to address the bathtub. It wasn't horrendously dirty, but it's easy to skip cleaning the tub: if company's coming, I just pull the curtain and save it for later. That said, the scrubbing bubbles did their job well, and after a quick wipe-down (and removal of all toys for a run through the dishwasher) I felt content with my results.
On that note, though, I have a verdict on the scrubbing bubbles: they work, and I'll finish using the can, but I doubt I'll buy any more. After yet another evening enduring a headache caused by the fumes from cleaning, I don't think it's worth it, and I do feel a bit "safer" breathing in vinegar rather than unidentified chemical fumes.
My last task was to wipe out the crevices above and on the door, just as I have in the rest of the house. It was while I was doing that, though, that I happened to glance down and notice the fingerprints and smudges at the three-foot mark. Thinking back to yesterday's experience in the laundry room, I guess I've learned yet another lesson: to get the house really, really clean I need to examine it from the level of a four-year-old. When I knelt down to clean the smudges, I noticed a pretty consistent ring of them around the hallway, which also happens to be one of very few unpainted areas in the house. Another item to add to My Love's to-do list? Or maybe a "vacation" while the kids stay with their grandparents and we spent the weekend painting. It sounds romantic...
I had no idea there was a spider living behind the door, subsisting quite comfortably on the fat crop of bugs in his web. (We're working on getting Mini-me to close the door when she uses the bathroom, so he'd had complete privacy for a while.)
It's news to me that, if you don't wash the storage bag for the bath toys, it will leave a soap scum silhouette on the bathtub wall. (Duly noted; this is a new monthly chore!)
Who'd have guessed that Cuddles enjoys chewing on toothbrushes, and that there were three half-digested toothbrushes stored under the sink on top of the stack of fresh towels? (In the future, they will be stored in a secure location.)
In short...this bathroom needed a lot of attention, and it finally got it tonight after the kiddos went to sleep.
Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture
2. Clean mirror
3. Clean sink
4. Clean toilet
5. Clean tub
6. Wash all bath toys, rugs, and towels
7. Wipe down baseboards and mop floor
The light fixture was the same kind as the one in the master bath, but smaller, so I made short work of that. After cleaning and re-installing the bulbs and shining the mirror behind them, the light in the bathroom was almost blinding. The bathroom is painted bright orange -- the kids love it! -- and it was sort of like working in a giant highlighter.
Cleaning the sink was no special chore, but I did take a moment to marvel at the amount of pink toothpaste two small girls can manage to affix to a bathroom sink.
It was when I started tackling the toilet that I noticed the full extent of the bathroom's need for attention. The toilet itself wasn't bad; I take pride in cleaning out the bowl and the surface about once a week. However, the floor around it was in rough shape. Here's the thing: the wasted space in the master bath seems to have appeared at the cost of space in the front bath, and it's a tight little room. There's not really room to mop or sweep, so...I just let it go. I'll be brutally honest when I say I can't remember the last time I mopped this bathroom. On the floor and in the corners around the toilet were dust, dog hair, toothpaste drops, dead bugs, tiny rubber bands, toddler hair, sand...the list goes on. Honestly, I was so appalled at my lack of effort in keeping the floor at least moderately clean that I scrubbed it with renewed vigor on my hands and knees. I made three passes: once with ammonia while cleaning the toilet, once with apple cider vinegar, and once with a Lysol wipe for good measure. By golly, that floor sparkled when I was done with it!
I took a break from the floor to address the bathtub. It wasn't horrendously dirty, but it's easy to skip cleaning the tub: if company's coming, I just pull the curtain and save it for later. That said, the scrubbing bubbles did their job well, and after a quick wipe-down (and removal of all toys for a run through the dishwasher) I felt content with my results.
On that note, though, I have a verdict on the scrubbing bubbles: they work, and I'll finish using the can, but I doubt I'll buy any more. After yet another evening enduring a headache caused by the fumes from cleaning, I don't think it's worth it, and I do feel a bit "safer" breathing in vinegar rather than unidentified chemical fumes.
My last task was to wipe out the crevices above and on the door, just as I have in the rest of the house. It was while I was doing that, though, that I happened to glance down and notice the fingerprints and smudges at the three-foot mark. Thinking back to yesterday's experience in the laundry room, I guess I've learned yet another lesson: to get the house really, really clean I need to examine it from the level of a four-year-old. When I knelt down to clean the smudges, I noticed a pretty consistent ring of them around the hallway, which also happens to be one of very few unpainted areas in the house. Another item to add to My Love's to-do list? Or maybe a "vacation" while the kids stay with their grandparents and we spent the weekend painting. It sounds romantic...
Friday, April 20, 2012
Less clutter=less dust
Today I tackled the second half of our large, open "living room", the part which officially is the office/play room/dining room area. I had a few things going for me: first, since this part of the house is used consistently, it's also consistently cleaned. Second, the girls are largely responsible for keeping their portion clean, so I had very little clutter to deal with. Going into it, I assumed that this part of the house would be much cleaner than the rest has been so far. At the very least, I assumed I wouldn't have any significantly dirty parts to deal with.
Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture
2. Remove items from each shelf of eight-foot bookcase and dust
3. Clean window, valance, and blinds
4. Dust computer desk and office shelves
5. Dust china cabinet and buffet server
6. Wipe down floor boards and vacuum
Right away, I ran into a pretty major road block. In every room I've approached so far, I've moved from the highest point down. In this case, the highest point was a light fixture in our vaulted ceiling that I estimate to be about 12 feet off the ground. We have a step ladder, but it's only eight feet tall, and I was (understandably) afraid to climb that high without another adult to spot me or call 911 if I fell and fractured something. So I skipped the light fixture outright and moved on to the book case.
Our book shelf is one of my favorite pieces of furniture, largely because My Love built it himself. It's eight feet tall and eight feet wide, and it's been crammed with books, Bibles, office supplies, and toys in alternating proportions for the duration of our residence in the house. When I considered removing everything from it to dust, it was a daunting task, but I began it with my trusty can of Pledge and a cleaning rag. The lower shelves, as it turned out, were the cleanest. I suppose I'm more aware of dust and debris in the areas which the children can reach, though I did have to scrub away a few dingy fingerprints along the floor. My surprise came as I dusted the top of the bookcase, which has not been cleaned or seen since I first arranged a row of knick-knacks up there the day the book case was finished. Though nowhere as disgusting as the grime atop the kitchen cabinets, I was shocked at the amount of dust that could accumulate on a surface over time. It took -- wait for it -- FOUR cleaning rags to remove all the dust; each of them turned grey with use before I pulled another from the closet. Essentially, I notice that surfaces that no one sees on a daily basis are consistently the dirtiest. Also, I revisited a lesson from my kitchen cleaning experience: the fewer things there are to collect dust, the easier they are to clean. However, the book case doesn't boast dusty wine bottles that I can nonchalantly toss into the garbage. Instead, every whatchamacallit on the shelves has some sort of sentimental value: the alpaca will teddy bear from Ecuador; the samurai swords my father bought on a trip to Japan; the Winnie the Pooh figurine hand-painted by an old friend. I simply resigned myself to wipe down every surface more often and accept that it will repeatedly get dirty (kind of like my kitchen floor).
Cleaning the single window seemed like a breeze; I've done five now, and this one was small. However, I still haven't figured out how to clean the blinds or remove the screens from outside. I think I'm going to need to devote a Saturday afternoon to scrubbing windows and screens from the outside. (Right now, the windows don't look clean because of the outdoor smudges.)
I have heard that you're supposed to use a particular kind of cleaning product and cleaning wipe for electronics, but I don't have one around the house, and I assumed that a tiny amount of water on a slightly-damp soft cloth couldn't hurt anything. I wiped off our computer tower, monitor, and keyboard. The dust between individual keys was giving me fits; I think I've seen some kind of telemarketing commercial for a product that blows dust off a keyboard, and it must be the only thing that works, because a cloth just didn't cut it. I hated to do it, but I left the computer and computer desk only about 99% clean and added "computer keyboard" to my mental list of failed projects that I'll need to re-evaluate at a later date.
All the furniture in our dining room is wood, though it doesn't match; this is also the least-decorated room in the house. There's one photo of the girls in a large frame, and we also have an antique plate from my grandfather on a stand atop the china cabinet. That's literally it. Any guesses on how long it took to clean this quadrant of the room? Only about 15 minutes, but I do need to go back and clean the light fixture. It's a hanging one, so I can reach it, but it had been on all morning and was too hot to touch. I turned it off after dusting the rest of the room, assuming I'd let it cool and then come back to it, but it completely slipped my mind until I sat down to write this post.
I approached the base boards with Lysol wipes (I had to buy a new can over the weekend!), which seems to be the most effective way. Unlike in the kitchen, I didn't go back over them with a dryer sheet. I'm going to assume that there is less dust and dog hair blowing around the carpeted area than on the tile. And...a quick run with the vacuum cleaner, and I was done!
This portion of the house seemed to go by really quickly. Honestly, it was simple, to, but I didn't "feel" like it was clean when I was done. I'm not sure whether it was because I skipped a few areas, such as the light fixtures, or because it wasn't as dirty in the first place (which means there wasn't a huge change to notice). Regardless, I can now say that the common areas in the house are acceptably clean, and that makes me feel like I've accomplished a great deal.
Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture
2. Remove items from each shelf of eight-foot bookcase and dust
3. Clean window, valance, and blinds
4. Dust computer desk and office shelves
5. Dust china cabinet and buffet server
6. Wipe down floor boards and vacuum
Right away, I ran into a pretty major road block. In every room I've approached so far, I've moved from the highest point down. In this case, the highest point was a light fixture in our vaulted ceiling that I estimate to be about 12 feet off the ground. We have a step ladder, but it's only eight feet tall, and I was (understandably) afraid to climb that high without another adult to spot me or call 911 if I fell and fractured something. So I skipped the light fixture outright and moved on to the book case.
Our book shelf is one of my favorite pieces of furniture, largely because My Love built it himself. It's eight feet tall and eight feet wide, and it's been crammed with books, Bibles, office supplies, and toys in alternating proportions for the duration of our residence in the house. When I considered removing everything from it to dust, it was a daunting task, but I began it with my trusty can of Pledge and a cleaning rag. The lower shelves, as it turned out, were the cleanest. I suppose I'm more aware of dust and debris in the areas which the children can reach, though I did have to scrub away a few dingy fingerprints along the floor. My surprise came as I dusted the top of the bookcase, which has not been cleaned or seen since I first arranged a row of knick-knacks up there the day the book case was finished. Though nowhere as disgusting as the grime atop the kitchen cabinets, I was shocked at the amount of dust that could accumulate on a surface over time. It took -- wait for it -- FOUR cleaning rags to remove all the dust; each of them turned grey with use before I pulled another from the closet. Essentially, I notice that surfaces that no one sees on a daily basis are consistently the dirtiest. Also, I revisited a lesson from my kitchen cleaning experience: the fewer things there are to collect dust, the easier they are to clean. However, the book case doesn't boast dusty wine bottles that I can nonchalantly toss into the garbage. Instead, every whatchamacallit on the shelves has some sort of sentimental value: the alpaca will teddy bear from Ecuador; the samurai swords my father bought on a trip to Japan; the Winnie the Pooh figurine hand-painted by an old friend. I simply resigned myself to wipe down every surface more often and accept that it will repeatedly get dirty (kind of like my kitchen floor).
Cleaning the single window seemed like a breeze; I've done five now, and this one was small. However, I still haven't figured out how to clean the blinds or remove the screens from outside. I think I'm going to need to devote a Saturday afternoon to scrubbing windows and screens from the outside. (Right now, the windows don't look clean because of the outdoor smudges.)
I have heard that you're supposed to use a particular kind of cleaning product and cleaning wipe for electronics, but I don't have one around the house, and I assumed that a tiny amount of water on a slightly-damp soft cloth couldn't hurt anything. I wiped off our computer tower, monitor, and keyboard. The dust between individual keys was giving me fits; I think I've seen some kind of telemarketing commercial for a product that blows dust off a keyboard, and it must be the only thing that works, because a cloth just didn't cut it. I hated to do it, but I left the computer and computer desk only about 99% clean and added "computer keyboard" to my mental list of failed projects that I'll need to re-evaluate at a later date.
All the furniture in our dining room is wood, though it doesn't match; this is also the least-decorated room in the house. There's one photo of the girls in a large frame, and we also have an antique plate from my grandfather on a stand atop the china cabinet. That's literally it. Any guesses on how long it took to clean this quadrant of the room? Only about 15 minutes, but I do need to go back and clean the light fixture. It's a hanging one, so I can reach it, but it had been on all morning and was too hot to touch. I turned it off after dusting the rest of the room, assuming I'd let it cool and then come back to it, but it completely slipped my mind until I sat down to write this post.
I approached the base boards with Lysol wipes (I had to buy a new can over the weekend!), which seems to be the most effective way. Unlike in the kitchen, I didn't go back over them with a dryer sheet. I'm going to assume that there is less dust and dog hair blowing around the carpeted area than on the tile. And...a quick run with the vacuum cleaner, and I was done!
This portion of the house seemed to go by really quickly. Honestly, it was simple, to, but I didn't "feel" like it was clean when I was done. I'm not sure whether it was because I skipped a few areas, such as the light fixtures, or because it wasn't as dirty in the first place (which means there wasn't a huge change to notice). Regardless, I can now say that the common areas in the house are acceptably clean, and that makes me feel like I've accomplished a great deal.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Company's coming!
When I became a stay-at-home mom, I learned quickly that it can be a lonely and boring job. Yes, I'm around my children all day, every day, but I was lacking adult conversation and encouragement that I was doing anything right. Over the last few months, it's been a pleasure for me to build up acquaintances with my fellow local mothers, and these wonderful ladies have helped me fill the gaps in my sanity.
Today, our local MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group had scheduled an outdoor play date at a local park. The weather, however, was being completely uncooperative. We had storms all night and morning, leaving the playground saturated and the equipment too slick for play. On a whim, I offered to have all the moms and kids over to my house so that we wouldn't have to cancel the play date.
There was a flurry of text messages, and it suddenly occurred to me that I had a scant 30 minutes to make my house appear clean and inviting. I felt a familiar panicked sensation, recognizing quickly that I wouldn't have time to clean everything before our company arrived, and I regretted having made the offer in the first place.
But then...I actually made a pass through my house. And, wonder of wonders, it actually looked moderately clean! The past week's work had paid off. I quickly swept the kitchen and had the girls put away a few toys. I put a new roll of toilet paper in the front bathroom and took out the garbage. I turned on some music. Suddenly, the house looked appealing and fresh, rather than dingy and cluttered.
I read somewhere, probably in this book, which I'm currently reading, that it's easier to keep the house moderately clean all the time so that you can be hospitable whenever the time comes than it is to have a cleaning frenzy before a big event. I had initially scoffed at the idea; the author had obviously never had three children under the age of five and a large dog all at the same time. I think, though, that today was proof of how well that advice really works. When the house doesn't feel like a disaster, I'm much more likely to invite over company. At the moment, that company might be for me just as easily as for my kids, but I want the kids to feel comfortable inviting their friends from school or soccer team over to the house for snacks or a study group when that time comes. I want them to be proud of their home, not ashamed of it. In that regard, I think a little vigorous spring cleaning once a year followed by consistent daily upkeep will be completely worth it.
Today, our local MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group had scheduled an outdoor play date at a local park. The weather, however, was being completely uncooperative. We had storms all night and morning, leaving the playground saturated and the equipment too slick for play. On a whim, I offered to have all the moms and kids over to my house so that we wouldn't have to cancel the play date.
There was a flurry of text messages, and it suddenly occurred to me that I had a scant 30 minutes to make my house appear clean and inviting. I felt a familiar panicked sensation, recognizing quickly that I wouldn't have time to clean everything before our company arrived, and I regretted having made the offer in the first place.
But then...I actually made a pass through my house. And, wonder of wonders, it actually looked moderately clean! The past week's work had paid off. I quickly swept the kitchen and had the girls put away a few toys. I put a new roll of toilet paper in the front bathroom and took out the garbage. I turned on some music. Suddenly, the house looked appealing and fresh, rather than dingy and cluttered.
I read somewhere, probably in this book, which I'm currently reading, that it's easier to keep the house moderately clean all the time so that you can be hospitable whenever the time comes than it is to have a cleaning frenzy before a big event. I had initially scoffed at the idea; the author had obviously never had three children under the age of five and a large dog all at the same time. I think, though, that today was proof of how well that advice really works. When the house doesn't feel like a disaster, I'm much more likely to invite over company. At the moment, that company might be for me just as easily as for my kids, but I want the kids to feel comfortable inviting their friends from school or soccer team over to the house for snacks or a study group when that time comes. I want them to be proud of their home, not ashamed of it. In that regard, I think a little vigorous spring cleaning once a year followed by consistent daily upkeep will be completely worth it.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Living room
Day 3: The Living Room
The living room is longer than it is wide, so we have partitioned it off with a couch and a book case. One side is considered the actual living room, and the other side is our office/play area. Today, I tackled the living room itself.
Here's the action plan:
1. Take down and wash curtains
2. Attempt to clean the blinds AGAIN
3. Wash insides of windows and window tracks
4. Clean fan and light fixture
5. Clean fireplace
6. Dust all furniture
7. Vacuum floor
8. Steam clean carpet
After cleaning the breakfast nook on my first day of work, I knew what to expect with the windows. When I removed the curtains, I encountered dust and cobwebs. That didn't particularly please me, but I also wasn't surprised. A quick trip through the washing machine ended up taking care of the curtains, but I still have yet to find a successful way to clean the blinds. I earnestly tried to wipe each individual blind piece down with a cloth, but they still didn't come clean. My Love says that this size blinds cost $5.95 at Lowe's; there may be a few new sets in our future.
Cleaning the fan and lights was an uneventful task except that I was unable to hide the fact that I was climbing something from the kids. Mini-me stood at the base of the chair and kept up a running dialogue: "Mama, what are you doing?"
"I'm cleaning, sweetie."
"What are you cleaning?"
"I'm cleaning the lights and the fan."
"Oh...how did they get dirty?"
"They just did. They got dusty, and I need to get the dust off."
"Oh...can I help?"
"No, honey, you're too short."
"But I can climb up on a chair like you and reach them."
"Sweetie, you'd need a bigger chair than this one to be able to reach the lights."
"Well, you could go buy me one."
Eventually, I set she and Cuddles down at the dining room table with some play dough that they had found in an Easter egg hunt at their grandparents' house over the weekend. They were content to make "crackers", "pancakes", and "pretzels" for the next half hour (at which point, obviously, it was time for lunch).
The "most dirty place in the room" award goes to our fireplace. I found that incredibly interesting, since it hasn't been used since we moved into the house over four years ago. It doesn't really get cold enough to need fires around here, and we also don't want to worry with cleaning up ashes or keeping little fingers out of the grate. I figured I might find some dust in the fireplace, but no real dirt. Oh, was I wrong! To begin, I removed a decorative candle stand that we keep in there to keep it from looking stark. The top few coils were laced with spider webs covered in dust. As a side note, I abhor spiders. They make me scream and run the other direction. I almost stopped cleaning right then, but the fact that the webs were dusty led me to believe that the spider had likely already met his or her demise. I was correct; I later discovered his/her body underneath a candle that had been lit at Valentine's Day. As to the task at hand: I wiped down the candle stand with ACV, which was equally effective at removing dust, spider webs, and ash. I then wiped down the inside of the fireplace itself. To my surprise, our flue was open (and I have no idea how it got that way). I closed the flue, and when I did, a shower of ash fell into the fireplace. It was actually quite a chore to wipe it all out; when ash gets wet, it simply makes gray and black streaks, so I went through multiple cleaning rags and bowls of ACV in order to get it clean. My last fireplace task was to dust our screen. This proved to be the most difficult thing I've done yet other than cleaning the blinds. Dust particles clung to the mesh screen when I wiped them with the ACV. I ended up brushing the screen vigorously ("Mama, why are you hitting that?") to dislodge the dust. That just made the dust float in the air, but I was hoping that whatever surface it landed on would be easier to clean.
A quick pass over the furniture with Pledge and a rag, and I was ready to vacuum. Yes, again...the Beast had left a trail of dog food crumbs from her bowl to the couch, and the floor looked just as dirty as it had before I vacuumed yesterday. There was no help from the kids today, as they were busy with peanut-butter-and-local-honey sandwiches (which they would rather than than just about anything else I could make). And then I paused; in a strange twist of events, steam cleaning the carpets has become My Love's job. (The one time I tried I left puddles in the carpet.)
It was really pleasant for me to discover that most of the house isn't going to be as dirty as the kitchen was; dusting and vacuuming are chores I actually keep up with pretty consistently, and I'm hopping it will pay off as I work toward having the entire house cleaned at one time.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
"Ah hep yoo"
I already mentioned that Mini-me is learning to help with housework, but I am pleased to announce that Cuddles is getting in on the action too. The girls are responsible for cleaning their own room, which they share; there are also sometimes fights over who gets to feed The Beast, and Cuddles, especially, loves to help unload the dishwasher (which means I rush to unload everything breakable while she spends twenty minutes emptying the silverware basket).
This morning I needed to run the vacuum in the living room area. When I got it out, Cuddles came running over to me, saying, "Ah hep you." She's almost two years old, and our pediatrician says that a stranger should be able to understand about half of what she says. Mama, however, gets closer to 80%, and in this case I figured it out after about three repetitions: "I want to help you." The "ah" sound universally means "I want" when it comes from her, as in "Ah Daddy" or "Ah cookie." And, like most two-year-olds, she seems to only say the first part of most words (the important part, right?). So "Daddy" is actually "Dahyee", for example, and "help" is, apparently, "hep".
I was in the process of vacuuming when she squeezed herself between me and the vacuum cleaner. She reached up as high as she could and could almost touch the handle with her fingertips. After a few passes, she gave up on that. Her next technique is the same that she uses to push a big yellow toy dump truck around the house: she placed both hands on the base of the vacuum cleaner, leaned forward, and pushed with all her might. It was cute, but it meant that I couldn't propel or steer the vacuum at all, and she was almost stepped on twice. I re-directed her to hold onto the hose attachment, and that seemed to make everyone happy.
Cuddles stayed with me for a full five minutes or so, which is more than twice as long as I should expect her to do anything, according to a recent article I read in Parenting magazine (or maybe it was Parents; I can't remember!) that specifies that young kids usually have an attention span of one minute per year of age. Those five minutes would normally have allowed me to finish my chore, but I moved at such a slow pace to accommodate her that I was only about halfway done. When she left, I finished vacuuming quickly, then she came running back: "Ah hep you." Now she wanted to help me coil the cord around the clip that holds it in place (a favorite task of Mini-me's too, incidentally). Again, I let her "help", but the task took at least twice as long as it should have.
For some reason, I wasn't frustrated by all of that. Granted, it had taken me the better part of 20 minutes to do something that should have taken five, but I was really proud of my little girl.
First, it excited me that she wanted to help at all. How many adults don't assist when they see something around them that needs doing? That's a life skill I want to develop in my kids, and it looks like starting them out as toddlers isn't too early at all.
Second, it's a big deal to me that she (and her brother and sister) learns at a young age how to do her chores so that she can take care of herself, her home, and her family when the time comes. I'm afraid that it will seem like my house is dirty because I didn't know any better, but it's not true; my mother is an incredibly wise and talented woman, and she made sure that I knew the essentials of housekeeping before I left her house. (Imagine the state I'd be in without that education!)
And finally, I enjoyed that little moment of giving Cuddles my undivided attention, even if it was while doing a chore. We have three kids, and it's easy to feel like they don't each get the individual attention they deserve. I hope vacuuming the living room floor isn't the best memory she'll have of me when she grows up, but I do hope she will remember that our family had fun together and loved one another enough to help out when it was needed.
This morning I needed to run the vacuum in the living room area. When I got it out, Cuddles came running over to me, saying, "Ah hep you." She's almost two years old, and our pediatrician says that a stranger should be able to understand about half of what she says. Mama, however, gets closer to 80%, and in this case I figured it out after about three repetitions: "I want to help you." The "ah" sound universally means "I want" when it comes from her, as in "Ah Daddy" or "Ah cookie." And, like most two-year-olds, she seems to only say the first part of most words (the important part, right?). So "Daddy" is actually "Dahyee", for example, and "help" is, apparently, "hep".
I was in the process of vacuuming when she squeezed herself between me and the vacuum cleaner. She reached up as high as she could and could almost touch the handle with her fingertips. After a few passes, she gave up on that. Her next technique is the same that she uses to push a big yellow toy dump truck around the house: she placed both hands on the base of the vacuum cleaner, leaned forward, and pushed with all her might. It was cute, but it meant that I couldn't propel or steer the vacuum at all, and she was almost stepped on twice. I re-directed her to hold onto the hose attachment, and that seemed to make everyone happy.
Cuddles stayed with me for a full five minutes or so, which is more than twice as long as I should expect her to do anything, according to a recent article I read in Parenting magazine (or maybe it was Parents; I can't remember!) that specifies that young kids usually have an attention span of one minute per year of age. Those five minutes would normally have allowed me to finish my chore, but I moved at such a slow pace to accommodate her that I was only about halfway done. When she left, I finished vacuuming quickly, then she came running back: "Ah hep you." Now she wanted to help me coil the cord around the clip that holds it in place (a favorite task of Mini-me's too, incidentally). Again, I let her "help", but the task took at least twice as long as it should have.
For some reason, I wasn't frustrated by all of that. Granted, it had taken me the better part of 20 minutes to do something that should have taken five, but I was really proud of my little girl.
First, it excited me that she wanted to help at all. How many adults don't assist when they see something around them that needs doing? That's a life skill I want to develop in my kids, and it looks like starting them out as toddlers isn't too early at all.
Second, it's a big deal to me that she (and her brother and sister) learns at a young age how to do her chores so that she can take care of herself, her home, and her family when the time comes. I'm afraid that it will seem like my house is dirty because I didn't know any better, but it's not true; my mother is an incredibly wise and talented woman, and she made sure that I knew the essentials of housekeeping before I left her house. (Imagine the state I'd be in without that education!)
And finally, I enjoyed that little moment of giving Cuddles my undivided attention, even if it was while doing a chore. We have three kids, and it's easy to feel like they don't each get the individual attention they deserve. I hope vacuuming the living room floor isn't the best memory she'll have of me when she grows up, but I do hope she will remember that our family had fun together and loved one another enough to help out when it was needed.
Friday, April 13, 2012
The Meaning of "Grime"
Day 2: The Kitchen
I was really inspired by how much better the house looked and I felt after Day 1, so I actually got up early this morning eager to clean. (How long will THAT last?) I attacked the kitchen with gusto. Here was the kitchen action plan:
1. Remove decor from above cabinets, purge as necessary, clean as needed, and wipe cabinet tops
2. Wipe down all cabinet doors
3. Go through cabinets for dishes that can be given to Goodwill
4. Clean microwave
5. Clean oven
6. Clean kitchen counter and all appliances on it
7. Clean refrigerator
8. Scrub sink
9. Clean garbage can
10. Wipe down floorboards and mop
Some of the best advice I found on house cleaning during my "spring cleaning" run on Pinterest was to start from the top and work my way down. That way, any dirt I remove from a high location doesn't muss an already-clean low location. The highest point in our kitchen is the 12-inch gap between our top cabinets and the ceiling, so I started there.
The majority of the "decor" (another of those words that sounds much too glamorous for what we actually have) was empty wine bottles from years and years ago. I thought they were sophisticated. As it turns out, they were just dusty, as was everything else up there (a giraffe-shaped cookie jar, some bright red candles, and a decorative olive oil bottle). I don't mean just "dust" either. If you're imagining something that you could brush away with a feather duster, you're in the wrong time zone. This stuff is now officially what I will think of when I hear the word "grime". It's basically dust that was glued down to all available surfaces with the residue of everything I've cooked on the stovetop for the last four years. I had to scrub so vigorously to get it off that I quickly decided that the effort was only worthwhile for the decorative items I really wanted to keep. That means that all the old, empty wine bottles went into the garbage can, and we now have a much more streamlined look in our kitchen.
The grime was also caked on top of the cabinets themselves. In theory, a little elbow grease would have been enough to remove the stuff, but in practice, it turns out that I'm a very awkward height. Our stepladder put me too far away from the countertop to reach the cabinets. I then tried a chair, but could barely see past the lip at the cabinets' edge. Finally -- since the kids were entertained with "Jake and the Neverland Pirates", I just stood on top of the counter itself. I could now reach, but I'm so tall that I couldn't stand upright. I spent about thirty minutes with my head inclined about twenty degrees to the left and my arm lifted up just over shoulder level, scrubbing at this caked-on dust with all my might. (On a side note, Lose It! says that an hour of housework burns 154 calories!) I used a bowl of my trusty apple cider vinegar (ACV) mixed with water, then finished up with a Lysol wipe. When I was done, I was sore and sweaty, but, by golly, my cabinet tops (which no one ever sees) were clean.
The rest of the morning was uneventful. I used ACV to wipe off every surface in the kitchen. At one point, Mini-me announced that she wanted to help, and I discovered another advantage of the vinegar: I could give her a rag dipped in the stuff and not worry about its toxicity. I had her wipe down the lower cabinets and the dishwasher, and she did a good job, for a four-year-old. I went behind her with a Lysol wipe on the end of a toothpick to get into the crevices where the cabinets jut out a bit to be decorative. I think anybody would be surprised at how much dust collects on that tiny surface!
Cleaning the oven is likely going to be a future source of experimentation for me. I have a self-cleaning oven, so last night I turned it on while we slept. Apparently (after the fact), you're supposed to open windows and make sure children and small animals aren't around the oven while it's cleaning. Oops. Also, though the self-cleaning part cleaned the majority of the oven, there were caked-on bits on the oven door that didn't come off even after a vigorous scrubbing. So I checked out this website, which recommended sprinkling the inside of the oven with baking soda and vinegar. I tried that and found that the mixture made a satisfying sizzling noise and bubbled as though it was doing something; however, it didn't touch the gunk. I got frustrated, closed the oven, and decided to come back to it later. The next day, though, when I opened the oven to cook dinner, the gunk was completely gone, as if it had eroded away. (Further examination of the website revealed that I was supposed to let the baking soda and vinegar sit overnight.) I just wiped out a few little white streaks and was done.
In part two of my "nastiest place in the room" series, I'd like to call your attention to the area underneath the pull-out drawer beneath your oven. I assumed that since it was under the oven, it couldn't be TOO dirty, but in that I was about as correct as assuming that the area under a booster seat couldn't get dirty. This place was filthy. My one consolation was that it was an isolated area that no one sees or touches. There was more of the grime down there, plus some dust bunnies, crumbs, dead bugs, and a few lost Goldfish and Cheerios (we eat a lot of those around here). Again, I wiped and then scrubbed it with ACV, followed by a Lysol wipe.
The refrigerator took a surprisingly long time to clean because I removed every jar and bottle and wiped each of them down as well. I also cleaned the shelves and drawers in the sink. However, it was also one of the most satisfying things I've cleaned yet, because I saw immediate results. It also seems to be lasting a bit longer than the other, more high-kid-traffic areas I've targeted. My nice, clean floor, for example, is dirty already, and I'm about to head off to do my daily sweeping.
So far, I'm pretty happy with my apple cider vinegar, which is also cheaper than most cleaning products and seems safe to use on just about any surface; however, in really icky places, I've been chasing it with a Lysol wipe (which I need to buy more of). The baking soda also worked so well on the oven that I may experiment with using household products to clean other areas of the house.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
The Dirt'll Keep
Today I started out with the intention to clean the kitchen with the same gusto as I had used on the dining room yesterday.
The three kids didn't cooperate with that idea. They had the audacity to sprinkle crumbs on my newly-mopped floor during breakfast and then demanded my undivided attention with puzzles and Dr. Seuss books. Baby Boy was cranky and tired and wanted to be held.
At first I was frustrated; I am the kind of person that loves a schedule, and I had it in my head that I was going to attack one "sector" of my house every day until it was done; these shenanigans were putting me off schedule.
Then Baby Boy fell asleep in my arms, and I forced myself to slow down and enjoy it. He's a beautiful child, and his hair is at that point where it's short and soft; his head just begs to be rubbed and kissed. So I gave in; I sat in the rocking chair, humming to him, giving him lots of kisses, and enjoying the sweet baby smell that comes with a freshly-washed infant. It's cliche, but there will always be dirt on the kitchen floor. There won't be many of these moments left for me, and I want to be sure I take the time to enjoy them, even if it means I don't meet my requisite cleaning goals. The fact that I even have a house to get dirty is an enormous blessing, but the perfect children that get it dirty in the first place are precious beyond words.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
The Culprits
Sometimes I look at pictures of homes in magazines and comfort myself by thinking that no one actually lives in those rooms. Who, really, has white couches or shag carpets or $200 (breakable) umbrella stands next to the front door? Certainly no one with children or large animals in the house.
That said, I'm afraid it's going to sound, as I write, like my house is a cesspool of dust mites that guests should enter at their own risk. It's not that bad, really; it's just not as GOOD as I want it to be, and that's due in large part to our home's inhabitants, most of whom do all they can to make the house look "lived in" (a euphemism for dingy).
That said, I'm afraid it's going to sound, as I write, like my house is a cesspool of dust mites that guests should enter at their own risk. It's not that bad, really; it's just not as GOOD as I want it to be, and that's due in large part to our home's inhabitants, most of whom do all they can to make the house look "lived in" (a euphemism for dingy).
My Love
My husband and I have been married for nearly six years, and we dated for six years before that...so I definitely knew what I was getting myself into when I married a recovering slob. (I cried when he took me to his bachelor pad after the honeymoon.) Our deal is that he can keep his half of our bedroom however he wants, as long as the rest of the house is presentable. That said, he is completely in charge of outdoor lawn maintenance and cleaning. He is also amazingly versatile and selfless, vacuuming or doing dishes for me when I'm busy, stressed, or 40 weeks pregnant. However, he also consistently assures me that the house is more than clean enough for his preferences.
Mini-me
My oldest daughter is nearly five, and, to hear anyone from my extended family talk, she is exactly like I was at her age. Specifically, she likes to climb high things and then jump off, run barefoot through the mud, pick up slugs, and spin wildly in circles in the living room. She has a tom-boy-ish tendency toward enjoying a little mud in her life, but she is starting to enjoy helping me clean house; she can also be counted on to clean up her own messes (with some prodding).
Cuddles
My second daughter is two, and as different from the first as is possible within one family. Where Mini-me is independent, Cuddles is clingy; where Mini-me is energetic, Cuddles is mellow. She's learning to feed herself, which means that her booster seat has a constant parade of dried yogurt, graham cracker crumbs, and spilled apple juice underneath it. She's also notorious for pulling out everything in the toy box in search of a favorite teddy bear.
Baby Boy
Luckily for me, I have one child who's not mobile. This happy guy spends the bulk of his time playing in an infant bouncer or rolling back and forth on a play mat. However, he has a propensity toward enormous quantities of spit-up, so most feedings are followed by a quick cleaning of the floor.
The Beast
We own what our vet calls "the smallest Great Dane [he's] ever seen." Weighing in at just over 100 pounds, this gentle giant loves laying in the sun and napping in the hallway next to the kids' rooms. However, though she has short hair, she does shed. On rainy days she leaves streaks of mud from the back yard on our well-worn carpet. Also, she has an absolutely crazy tendency: she takes mouthfuls of food from her bowl, lays down in the middle of the living room, and eats the food, leaving crumbs in her wake that pretty much always make the living room look dirty.
So, there you have it...with a family of five, three young children, and a big dog, I'm going to assume that the bulk of the clutter and dust in our house is normal. Normal, but not necessarily inevitable; I'm off to conquer it! (Cue inspirational music.)
Off to great places
I started off my career as a homemaker innocently enough. Until this year, I worked full-time while I sent my two girls to daycare. I kept my house clean enough to avoid embarrassment, but I was certainly never going to be featured in Better Homes and Gardens magazine. I always assumed that stay-at-home moms must have plenty of time on their hands to be able to keep their houses really clean; since I wasn't one of them, I would be content with so-so cleanliness.
This year, we were blessed with a third child, a boy this time. The cost of daycare didn't make it worthwhile for me to continue working, so I took the road of a full-time mom and stayed home with my children.
On the first day of stay-at-home-mommy-hood, I made myself a sweet little schedule: on Mondays I would run the vacuum; on Tuesdays I would sweep and mop; on Wednesdays I would clean the bathrooms; on Thursdays I would balance the checkbook; on Fridays I would grocery shop; on Saturdays I would do laundry. On Sundays I would rest. Simple and straightforward, I thought. My home enjoyed a full two weeks of something resembling a glossy sheen.
Then my pregnancy advanced, and I realized that I had neither the energy nor the unlimited time to keep my home clean that I had at one time imagined. (The blog detailing the busyness of being a mother to two energetic girls is a different tale, but, suffice it to say, I was unprepared for the commitment I encountered.) Chores began to slip. Gradually I turned to a once-a-month bathroom cleaning and only sweeping when there were visible Cheerios on the kitchen floor.
The thing is, I made excuses for a home that I can simply describe as "dirty" for months. First I was pregnant, then I had a newborn...but now my son is a chubby, happy five-month-old who sleeps 18 hours a day (thank you, God!), and I am out of reasons why I shouldn't make more of a go at this thing. After all, caring for my children and my home is now my career.
In the next few weeks, I'm undertaking a deep, deep cleaning of the house. I have "spring cleaned" before, but never to anything like the magnitude I'm planning. I'll be scouring, purging, and waxing every corner and crevice of the house, and I want it to be something I'm proud of when I'm done. I've found some great online resources to utilize, and I am almost ashamed to say that I'm excited to go buy a new broom. Since I'm devoting so much of myself here for the next few weeks, I'm recording it, if nothing else in order to keep myself motivated. And who knows? Maybe I'll stumble across something that can be useful to someone else as well.
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