Cleaning

One of my deficiencies as a female is my inability to notice dirt until it is really substantial. I did not get the clean gene. Like my mother, I have no interest in cleaning and can think of 150 things I'd rather do (at least!). However, when you live in a house for 6 months without cleaning the bathrooms.... let's just say that even I can see dirt like that.

I've been thinking about cleaning the bathrooms for a couple of months now. I even bought a book, "Speed Cleaning," after having it out of the library for a while. But I did not see how I could clean a bathroom when the boos were home, and I'm always too tired at night, and while they're at daycare I have too many other things to do, like working.

This week, finally, I had had enough. Yesterday I got the Comet, the Windex, and the all-purpose non-toxic cleaning solution, a roll of paper towels, a scrub brush, an old toothbrush, and the toilet brush, and headed for my bathroom. Of course the boos came too, because they follow me all over the house, and they PARTICULARLY like to follow me to the bathroom because that's where we brush our teeth and also where I rinse out their dirty diapers, which they find fascinating. Sigh.

I decided to clean only the toilet, the sink, and the mirrors. The boos were knocking each other over trying to watch me scrub the toilet with Comet. Following my book's advice, I sprayed the toilet, then the underpart of the seat, then the top of the seat, and then the lid, with the all-purpose non-toxic cleaning solution, and then wiped each thing in reverse order -- with a little help from the boos, who kept trying to put their hands in the goop and eat it. The mirrors were easy, but then I had to take all the stuff off the top of the vanity and put it somewhere, in order to clean the area. I put the cleaning supplies on the top of the toilet during that exercise, and next thing I knew, Baby A had the Windex and Baby B had the all-purpose non-toxic cleaning solution. "Oh, thank you," I said, taking the bottles away from them. Unwinding the paper towels was also a popular activity.

Despite all the bother, the results were so delightful that today I decided to do Rocket Boy's bathroom (he uses the main house bathroom, which is also where the boos take baths -- my bathroom is part of the master suite). Actually all I did was the mirrors and vanity top, but again, the results were stunning.

This gave me the energy to do some vacuuming. First I had to find the vacuum cleaner, which was not in either of the two places I remembered it being. Where could it be? Finally I looked in the garage. There it was, standing next to my car, which means I walk past it every day, sometimes several times in a day, without noticing it. So not only do I not notice dirt, I also do not notice dirt-removal implements. It's like a handicap!

In order to vacuum our bedroom, I first had to remove objects from the floor, like diapers, toys, and my backpack. I piled them on the cedar chest. Baby B immediately began throwing them back on the floor. I worked around him. Boo bears were startled by the sound of the vacuum and laughed. Note to self: MUST do this more often!

Then we did their bedroom, which required picking up their toys first. This was also greeted with great hilarity, and toys were put back on the floor as fast as I removed them. I worked around them.

Finally we did the family room. There is a box in that room for their toys, and I announced that we were going to put all the toys in the box. Wonder of wonders, Baby A actually helped put the toys in the box! Of course he also stood where he could hold onto the cord and jerked it up and down as I vacuumed. But I still got the job done and was pleased with the results.

So there you have it. There is so little to do in Ridgecrest that cleaning has become recreational. Pretty soon I'll be dusting.