Top to Bottom, Cleaning the Whole House Special Projects

A special cleaning project is one that usually falls outside of normal chores such as emptying a whole room to paint it, a remodel, major repairs, getting new furniture, or it's a collection that is large enough to dominate most of a room. Yesterday I cleaned bookcases. I know, I was supposed to work on windows. And I did clean the bathroom window. But when I moved on to the bedroom I got tired of trying to remove a sticker. So I sat down. Then my toddler dumped most of her books on the floor. I suddenly realized if I moved that particular bookcase it would solve some storage problems. And I realized it was Monday, which is when I clean the living room. I hadn't done any of my daily cleaning. The living room was really awful. The sticker didn't seem important anymore.

I don't have a before picture. This is better and it didn't take as long as I thought.

This is also better. I sweep out a ton of dirt every day. I have declared the boys must wipe their feet before entering the house. I probably have another project in my future involving a walkway. I don't want to think about it. Again, cleaning is tough because it reveals how many problems you really have. With sinking despair you realize nothing will change until you address it. Addressing issues further emphasizes your lack of money and time, to say nothing of the fact that you have been living in substandard conditions. You start to wonder what else is screwed up in your life. Probably, like me, you'll realized that despite all your hard work the damn windows aren't going to clean themselves and that was more than a one day project anyway.

I could have pretended I have my shit together and this effort to get my house under control is going well. But I don't think that's fair to you. I think if you're reading my blog you deserve honesty. I really wanted the curtains washed and the windows clean. My husband agrees with what I'm doing, especially when I told him there was an inch of dust along the top of the bathroom curtain. Unfortunately, I raised so much dust yesterday than he was forced to take sinus pills and he laid down with a headache. He got up to eat, but didn't feel like eating much. I have a headache this morning. I can't lay down, there's too much to do.

My special project was going to be my closet. I don't know what the next post will be about. I'm sure there will be another because I am nowhere close to done.