Wednesday morning I awoke with the strangest feeling. Relief. I laid in bed (after preparing lunch, sending Art out the door, and crawling back into bed), with a box of tissues and several cough drops, and I thought about the sweet joy of being able to lie in bed with no Oompa Loompa rhythms beating through my mind, no 14 hour days looming, no last minute things to locate, and a serious cold as a justifiable excuse. Relief.
When Rudy finally convinced me to get up for good at 8:30(!!!! I haven't slept that late in YEARS!) I looked around to discover a fairly harsh reality check.
When you disappear for three weeks in the depths of Parent Teacher Conferences, State Office Presentations and the Final Weeks of the play there are certain things that get neglected. I try very hard to make sure my husband and dogs aren't one of those things. But in the bright early hours of Wednesday morning I realized my house HAD been one of those things. It's not like I hadn't done dishes or laundry, but I had neglected the bathrooms and just turned a weary eye on all of Art's piles. And the dust, I just don't know where it comes from!? (Don't actually answer that, I know it's dead skin cells, and spider parts, but I don't want to think about that.)
So I decided I better remedy that situation, not only because it's fairly nasty and my mother would not find it acceptable, but also because the new carpet was set to be installed in just a few days.
I've discovered the PERFECT way to clean. As I attempted to move everything from the upstairs portion of the house into 'somewhere else'.... I dusted. When the furniture was bare... I dusted some more. When the furniture was gone and the floor was empty.. I vacuumed (I know what you're thinking, 'Didn't she say they were getting new carpet?' That's what Art said also, "You're vacuuming carpet we're going to throw away?" - I have hairy dogs, I have neurotic genes.) When the carpet is gone and the floors are bare... Wash the windows and the blinds and wipe up the walls and moulding, and of course wash the curtains (I only have one set, it is really disappointing to my mother). Then while the carpet installers are here and you're trapped in the kitchen... clean and organize the cupboards, scrub the sink, and wipe up the fridge.
And now, as they finish up I am itching to vacuum (yes, I'm going to vacuum brand new carpet!), hang up the curtains (damp of course, to hang out the wrinkles - at least I do that much right), and put all my furniture back in a new and exciting way - dust free.
