Ah….. there are few things as satisfying as a clean house. Sometimes I find it amazing how the cleaning… instinct? Compulsion? Obsession? Mania? Whatever it is, I have found a personal savior in cleaning. This would of course lead you to believe that I have a spotless house and that is simply not true. As I write this, there are dishes piled in the sink. There is dirty laundry in the hamper. And the bug screens have been clamoring for a good cleaning since we moved in here. The stairs need a good sweeping, again. And well… the car could use a bath as well. So see what I mean? I am not a compulsive cleaner. But whenever I do clean, I feel as if I were cleaning my insides as well, so it’s a bit like therapy.
Vacuuming to me is one of the things to get least excited about, but when I gather up all my gumption, courage, and pluck and [insert miscellaneous adjectives to express that it takes a LOT of effort to get me excited] … vacuum, I feel like I’m single-handedly sucking out all the muck inside myself. Alas, that is also the time where creepy-crawlies, bugs, dust bunnies and all sorts of other unsavories also decide to come out, which makes the vacuuming feel like an exorcism-cum-Fear Factor thrown in for gross measure. I sometimes think of how close we came to buying an evil Kirby vacuum cleaner, and sigh. Ah….. how much more Good I could perform in this world by vacuuming with a Kirby! or even a Dyson, really. But the Hoover shall do. Right now, my carpet looks silky and untrodden. Such is the power of a good vacuuming. Then again, that Kirby demo ruined my dumb belief that all vacuums are created equal. Grr.
On the other hand, what I do like is ….. well… I love scrubbing toilets when I’m angry. It’s the best anger management I can ever think of. I focus on the dirt and grime and I simply scrub the living shit out of that nastiness, imagining the person or thing that caused my anger is being fought by the Power Of Comet!!! Okay. I am pretty sure I’m sounding more and more weird by the moment…. however I do heartily recommend cleaning as therapy. Not only will you get some exercise (housework on average burns 100 Calories/hour), get some cleanin’ done, but you will also exorcise the demons in your head.
And if all else fails, the first two are pretty good.