Summer Cleaning

I don't spring clean. It's a nice thought - but spring is baseball season in my house and we really don't have time for anything else. I don't fall clean either. But I do clean prior to the start of a new school year - very similar to spring cleaning I guess. I start at one end of the house and work to the other throwing out, reorganizing, and cleaning everything. The goal is to not have to search for the pencil sharpener after school starts as it will have it's own little space, along with everything else.

I started last Sunday - as it will take me a few weeks to complete. 5 hours I spent on our pantry, laundry room and kitchen. 2 bags of trash later (because instead of throwing away the blender that made it's last milkshake before cracking - it was cleaned and put away) I called it quits for the day. The twins became fascinated after I had washed the outside of the fridge - amazing how new something looks without 1000 fingerprints. T1 actually helped clean the inside of the fridge and the outside of the dishwasher until he got bored. T2 would just walk by with stellar comments like "Is that what it looked like when we bought it?" "Wow Mommy, its just so...so clean!"

I was actually pretty proud of myself and all my hard work. I took the rest of the day off (other than the folding of the laundry) and played in the pool with the boys. The next morning, while fixing breakfast, T2 looked inside the fridge and said "Well it's not perfect, you missed a spot. And another spot right there."

Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing. ~Phyllis Diller, Phyllis Diller's Housekeeping Hints, 1966