...company's coming
...mom's cranky
...mom has something she should be doing but she's avoiding it
...we've just come back from visiting someone else and Mom realizes what a state our house is
...mom's been reading blog posts about other people working on cleaning and she's feeling guilty
Got this idea from Dana's post, and she got the idea from Sylvia's post, who was inspired by Dawn's post. I changed it up a bit though because I wanted to ask like one of the commentors on Dana's post "What is this clean of which you speak?". Loved that comment! I sometimes go into short cleaning fits but seldom, if ever, does one last long even to actually end up with a clean house. :0)
Dawn's post is a wonderful, inspiring post and I really wish I could have her great attitude, but when I read her statement "We don't clean up messes to have a clean house. We clean up messes so there is room for more mess!" I just can't seem to take the next step with her and "think of cleaning up after my kids as replacing a canvas". I wish I could, but I can't. My response is, "Why clean it up if it's only going to get messy again." Sad, I know. I was really, really inspired by Dawn's post, until Dana's and Sylvia's post revived the real me.
I have to share a funny that happened while I was typing this post. I originally titled it "A cleaning frenzy at our house means..." until I looked in the dictionary to double check the spelling of "frenzy" and I discovered that it means "wild excitement", and I just couldn't bring myself to use it because cleaning does not excite me at all. I decided to try "spree" as a replacement, until I discovered that it means "a noisy frolic", and decided that wasn't right either. It may get noisy when I clean, but it's not fun and I associate frolic with fun. So I decided to try "fit" as a replacement. "any sudden, uncontrollable attack; an outburst, as of anger; in an irregular way". Yep, that's the right word. :)
Thursday, May 22, 2008
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5 comments:
"Cleaning fit..."
Yeah, that about explains it. And I love the geneology that these kinds of posts take on (I got it from...who got it from...). :)
I like my post but I must admit, my house is often very *not* clean.
I think the the canvas idea is one to store in the toolbox. Some days you may pull it out and it inspires and you clean up a room with a foos feeling. Other days you look at it and think, "What the heck was Dawn smoking?" :D
At least that's how I feel about it.
I think reading Dawn's post just helped me put cleaning into perspective for me. :) I always felt that it was such a waste, and got so frustrated, b/c I'd clean (and/or pick up the mess of) a room, or a whole floor of the house, and hours later you could hardly tell. It feels like work that never ends and is pointless--but now, if I clean or pick up ;), I'll be thinking to myself that this is so the kids can create more, can find their things, that one thing they were searching for to finish some project, etc. I still won't like it. But I do think attitude makes a huge difference. The point of cleaning up most of the time will now be for the kids to destroy it, not for them to keep it that way, and for me to feel resentful. I think I'll add this to my post. :) This is becoming really fun!
See, I must be weird, because I enjoy cleaning -- well, I enjoy the feeling AFTER the cleaning is done. Unfortunately, that feeling doesn't usually last that long -- about as long as the clean is messed again! LOL! My kids don't mind helping clean, but I wish they would do it without me having to remind them!
LOL! Cute post Jac! Cleaning FIT is definately the best description. I had a SMALL "cleaning fit" this weekend...hoping I'll have another fit in a few days...a cleaning fit that is! :0)
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