Boring Stuff

This blog is the motivating force behind my housecleaning efforts for 2009, rather my house-purging efforts for 2009. The premise being: it is more fun to write than clean – so if I clean something I get to write about it. Stupid premise, but it is working. The cleaning I have been writing about involves purging the “stuff” I have in drawers, closets, shelves, etc. I have not written about the everyday cleaning that we all have to do in order to keep our heads above clutter or the health department away from our door. I have not written about it until today. Today I had to clean my house, really clean my house – not just a drawer or a closet, I had to dust and vacuum and mop. Company is coming. We are celebrating a big birthday in my family this weekend, my grandmother, Big Red, is turning 102. I am having the family over for dinner tomorrow – so I had to put aside my house-purging efforts and focus on house-cleaning. BORING.

Housework is boring. I have never liked it; does anyone? I love having a clean house, but I much prefer having someone else do it. When my children were young I was a stay-at-home-mom, but I still had someone come in every week and clean. I didn’t want my children to remember a mother who did nothing but clean house. We went to the library and to the swimming pool or to the movies instead. Now that my husband and I are the only two at home (plus two dogs that shed) we decided to do the housework ourselves. It is not very much fun and I much prefer whining about it than actually doing it. My husband is great to jump in and get the work done, but on the eve of every family visit we find ourselves scrambling to get it all done. We’ve become complacent about the level of clutter we can live with, but we are just vain enough not to subject our guests to our everyday lackadaisicalness.

So, the furniture is dusted, the floors are mopped or vacuumed, the tub and toilets are clean and the dog hair is mostly gone – and I am bored to tears!