Killer Clean

The Winter storms are mostly behind us. The temperature is climbing and on some days has reached the balmy mid 70s. The natives have donned their warm-weather attire ...or lack thereof. The skies are clear with nary a cloud in sight. It may be a little premature to start celebrating but Spring is in the air. On one such spring-like day, I threw open [wide] all the windows to give my place a thorough airing.

The first thing that came to mind was spring cleaning. Now for someone like me, who doesn't necessarily do something just because it needs doing, -- (like laundry, I hate doing laundry and will procrastinate doing it until...) -- anyway, when I get these flashes of motivation ...like house cleaning... it's important for me to to act on the impulse while it's there, since I don't know when it'll again present itself.

Side note: I'm a very neat person. In fact, it's a defining character trait. I'm neat to the point of obsession. But my being "neat" is all about order and appearance. It doesn't necessarily translate as "clean". I have no qualms about "sweeping the dirt up under the rug", as long as it looks neat ;-)

So, when I get a genuine urge to do something domestic, I usually take advantage of the motivation. Which brings me to the title of this post. The well-know humorist, Erma Bombeck, once said, "Housework, done properly, can kill you". Truer words were never spoken.

In all my enthusiasm, to do a thorough job (in my usual obsessive manner), I pulled all the furniture out from the walls to clean behind it, took all the blinds down for cleaning, did the windows and all the glass in the myriad wall-mounted frames, flipped the mattresses, removed all the books and whatnot from the shelves and cases for dusting, scrubbed the kitchen floor, scrubbed the bathroom floor and all the tile, and so on... When all was done, I was ready for the proverbial "white-glove" inspection, and I would've passed.

But when I awoke the following morning, I could hardly move. I felt like I'd been hit by a Mack truck. Every muscle in my body was stiff and sore and [I suspect] bemused by the sudden assault. They don't get this kind of workout on a regular basis. I had this killer headache that seemed to be laughing at the inconsequential effect of the ibuprophen.

However, I am glad I did the house-cleaning. Like I said, who knows when I would again be inspired to do it so thoroughly ...beyond the usual vacuuming that only involves traffic areas and places reachable without moving anything.

Wouldn't it be great to have servants? I know there are cleaning services, but, aside from the expense, they don't really do a good job ...not to my satisfaction. That's the curse of being such a perfectionist. You have to do everything yourself if you want it done your way.

My aches and pains (and the headache) eventually subsided, and I planned a dinner party so I could show-off my sparking clean digs. And when someone makes the comment ...and someone will... "You really keep a clean house", I can shrug and pretend that it's just the norm.

Addendum: This post was originally written last weekend. I didn't submit it then in favor of the previous post in recognition of Valentine's Day. Since then, the Spring weather has abated and Winter has returned for an encore. This past week has been very cold, and rainy ...with intense snow storms [in some areas]. But Spring will get here and, when it does, my cleaning will have already been done.

Quote of the Week: "Nature abhors a vacuum ...and so do I."