Keeping the Home by Lori Seaborg

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Housework Update

Oh, good! I'm so glad that there are so many of you who need to organize and clean up, too! You know how messes attract messes? (go ahead and prove that theory by throwing some dirty laundry on your bedroom floor and then watch it multiply) Well, I think messies attract messies! Or sometimes-messies attract sometimes-messies. Whatever it is, I'm glad I'm not alone.

The Clean Heart, Clean Home Challenge can be started on ANY Sunday, so please don't put it off just because you're not with the group. I'm not with it, either.

My first cleaning day this week was The Vehicle on Monday. I already blogged about that.

The next two days were for The Front Yard (Tuesday, Wednesday). Tuesday, I cleaned under the front porch bunny's cage (I know, who has a bunny on their front porch? The same people who have 2 goats greeting the mailman each day; he says they are nicer than most dogs.). Back to the bunny cage -- I cleaned under it; there was some straw there. I cleaned up her litter trays (the flowers love the offering), swept under the bench, carefully leaving the free range chickens' nest of eggs (don't ask; it's just the way things are around here). I did rob the nest of all but 2 eggs, so they'll lay there again. It's more convenient than their other nest, which is where it should be, on a shelf in their pen. I also straightened up the flower beds, where a few things had fallen over (the tiny bird bath; an ornamental doodad), wheeled the wheelbarrow to its place, and that was all on Tuesday.

Wednesday, I failed in my Clean Heart, Clean Home Challenge and didn't do anything. It was just too hot to move that pile of mulch from the pile (as I said) to the flower beds. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it. I am planning on washing the outside windows on the first cloudy day we get (if you wash them on a sunny day, they'll streak -- or is that a hot day? Well, if I wait for a cold one, it's just not gonna' happen anytime soon, so we'll go for the cloudy day).

The Living Room was next on my week's list, and it was assigned 3 days: Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The living room is my neatest room, so I feel like I'm getting a break even before I deserve one. In that room, all we need to do is dust, wash the fireplace, wash the French doors, wipe the switchplates and perhaps the walls a bit, and sweep under the furniture. Considering what monstrous jobs the other rooms will be, this room has what feels like nothing to do. One note about the living room: It's obvious that this room always looks the neatest because it has the least clutter. It's a wide open space with only couches, chairs, and a big t.v. along the sides. There are no knick-knacks, bookshelves, coffee table --- I wish every room was this maintenance-free. It's certainly true that less clutter equals less housework.

How are you coming along?

by Lori Seaborg 2006