Spring Cleaning

There is nothing like a couple warm days to make me want to clean the entire house from top to bottom.  I want to get rid of EVERYTHING.  I want clear counter tops and dresser tops.  I want the floors to be clear of every last unneeded object.  I get this feeling, this NEED to clear out the junk, right in my bones.  Where does this feeling come from?  I asked my husband if he felt it too.  He said, "no I don't."  A couple days ago I had the carpets in my upstairs rooms cleaned.  I had to pick up everything from the floor.  Of course, I stashed it all.  In the bathroom.  In the closet.  On the bed.  Anywhere I could find.  Now I'm trying to get rid of all that STUFF.  I don't want to put it back in the piles previously scattered about the rooms.  I have a name for this.  I call it Pile-itis.  It is the disease of stacking stuff upon stuff.  I know I'm not the only sufferer of this dreaded disease.  I know, also, this disease is hereditary.  It is a dominant gene trait.  I know I inherited this disease from my father.  If there was a flat surface in the home of my childhood, my father piled stuff on it.  If there was a design on the floor of our basement, I couldn't tell you what it was.  My father had every square inch of that floorspace COVERED with piles of stuff.  And, don't you dare touch any of it, because he knew just what was in each pile and he needed that stuff.

Jeff Lewis kitchen

Now, as I write this, I am afraid you may think I'm talking about hoarding.  Like the show on A&E, Hoarders.  I'm not talking about ANYTHING on that level.  And, although my desire is to be free of "stuff" like the guy on the Bravo show, Flipping Out.  I don't think I'll ever reach that level either.  Although, I LOVE the look of the empty counters and tables.  So, neither my father, nor I have reached clinical levels of hoarding or compulsion.

Another thing about this condition (I don't think I should call it a disease anymore, because, I'm starting to worry myself and have second thoughts about the whole thing.  I don't have any pictures to prove this, but REALLY, I'm not a hoarder.  Really.) is that it is controllable.  I think the most important thing in controlling this condition is to NOT marry (or cohabit) with someone equally afflicted.  This can cause a problem that very well may involve having a television show come to your house.  Seriously.

I just have a BURNING desire to go home and clean up piles of stuff.  It doesn't happen often, but it does seem to happen at this time of the year.  I also have a BURNING desire to have my husband clean all the crap (See how my stuff is stuff and his stuff is crap.  How did that happen?) out of the garage.  I just hate seeing that stuff as I get in my car every morning.  I really don't like it.  Kind of hate it, but not enough to nag him about this.  Remember, I'm a dissertation widow.   He just writes and works and writes and works.

The one good thing about this urge to clean is that it doesn't seem to last too long.  It seems to last about a month.  And, if the weather turns cold, maybe not that long.  So, strike while the iron is hot.  Clean clean and clean.  This too shall pass.

Btw, in May I HAVE to wash all the windows.  Crazy, huh?