Spring Cleaning

Published on Monday, May 26, 2014 by Katherine

Sometimes you just have to put everything aside and take care of business. Like the internet and blog posts and everything else you enjoy. And that is what I have been doing… taking care of business. The benefits far outweigh what I have pushed myself through, but boy oh boy what a few weeks I have had.

Today my “third son” arrived along with his girlfriend, whom I had not met. I posted about him long ago, as my heart was breaking when he moved. Now I get to see him once a year. Do I want the house clean when he arrives? Sure, but he is family sooooo…..

But his girlfriend is not only new to us… she is a GIRL. So the Spring Cleaning started. For the last two weeks, I have gotten up at 5:30 a.m., went to work, then the gym, then home, regular chores/cooking/feeding pets etc…..and THEN I began to clean.

I started with one wall at a time. I pulled everything out from the wall. Scrubbed. Cleaned. Polished. I washed down walls, lights, ceilings and so much more. By the end of each night I would collapse, accident back pain screaming at me, hands aching, wrists on fire…. To the point where after six straight hours of scrubbing I dropped a bottle of juice because I had completely lost my grip capabilities.

The kitchen alone took ten hours. TEN HOURS. And I have yet to tackle INSIDE the cabinets.

Did you know that if you clean a spot on the ceiling, it creates a white spot that makes you spread out further until you not only have to stand on a chair and scrub the entire ceiling, but break out a mop and literally MOP the ceiling?

But the house now? Other than my room, which comes next, is clean. Like spring cleaning clean. And it feels so good.

What were the products that became my best friends these few weeks? TSP and LA’s Totally Awesome All Purpose Concentrated Cleaner. Between the two I was able to get up stains, grease and I don’t want to know what that brown stuff was….but it is gone.

Cleaning things and throwing things away is amazingly hard work but is also oh so rewarding. Do my fingers hurt when I type? Yes. Does my back feel like I never had physical therapy? Yes. But tonight I get to go home to a clean, sparkling house.

I’ll just be sure to avoid opening the cabinets.