Mike and Ploy

“Cleanliness is next to Godliness”

That quote was by the sink at my mom’s house.  Whenever I was assigned the dreadful chore of washing dishes – a daily assignment I might add,  I would read that quote and wonder why the cartoon in the picture was so happy dancing around this kitchen with a mop in his hands.   I never did that.  Have you ever tried to dance while mopping? Besides getting the muddy water everywhere (gross….), the pure friction of a mop on vinyl floor prohibits any quick movements, let alone reenacting a triple-toe, double axle combo.  You’re more likely to slip on the wet floor and bang your head on the kitchen counter, resulting in a concussion.But back to cleaning…  I always think of two types: First: when you remove grime and dirt and use cleaners and disinfectants.  Second: when you organize, make room, and clear out old junk.  When I was young, I didn’t appreciate either of these areas.  Dirt on my arms meant I had a productive day in the yard.  Clothes on the bedroom floor – I knew where everything was.  It was actually cool to be dirty and to play with dirt.  It was also much easier to get and stay dirty, than it was to stay clean.

Getting older has its advantages, one of which is a changing view of life and a renewed perspective.  I still like knowing where all my clothes are, but my comfort with dirt has diminished.  I things are actually gross to me now and I clean accordingly, though my tolerances are still pretty high.  What I enjoy more, is organizing.  There’s nothing quite like a desk that has been sorted of all its papers, neatly filed – a room that has everything put back into its proper place – or laundry that is neatly folded and put away (I don’t do this, I’m just saying it as an example).

So this past week, I took initiative and bought some racks for our kitchen.  I got in trouble, sorta, but I think it was a good decision.  Those taller steel frame adjustable ones were on “sale” at home depot.  They weren’t listed, but they were definitely in-store only, and at half the price that they normally are.  That makes them the same price as the plastic ones…bleh, but they aren’t as good as high end steel/chrome ones.  Ploy likes that they’re NSF certified, which makes me think of NSFW.  Deep black though, and adequate.  Also gave me an excuse to buy a level to make sure they’re straight, our kitchen floors are sloped.

So yay!  More room to the kitchen and a more open floor plan.  More things are now in the hallway, but there’s an actual shelf now for kitchen items, and another shelf for the pantry.  We briefly added things to the shelfs, but I think we can move things around more.  Like I just had the idea of moving the knives and utensils to the shelf, and maybe more appliance things in the cupboard.

Anyway, I’ve yet to actually write about what I said in the title.  Therapy!  Sounds like you’re talking to someone, sitting on a couch – but no.  I’m just talking about getting life organized.   The feeling like something’s getting done, of being productive.  This I can do.  Order is being brought to chaos!  I actually can’t really stand messes, or clutter and it bugs me when there’s things to do.    Does anyone else get this calming effect?

On a weird tangent, I also enjoy vacuuming (something I never thought I’d say), but maybe it has to do with a cool vacuum cleaner – where I can see all of the gunk that’s being sucked and toss….goodbye to you dust.  I’ll see your cousins, and maybe your distant relatives but I’ll never see you again!

Ok, enough therapy for now…now go get cleaning!