Monday, June 28, 2010

Spring Cleaning 101

Once again I have allowed my blog to take a backseat to all that has been going on in my life. And that's okay. I realized that I get uncomfortable when my blog begins to take on a life of its own and starts to control me. No, no, no, dear nourish your soul blog.  I am the boss of my destiny and I will write when I feel the desire, the need, the urge.  Now don't get me wrong, dear blogging friends. I do care about what you have to say. I do love to read your words and check out your photos and find out how life is treating you. I do care. And of course, I want people to read my blog ~ after all, isn't that why we create blogs in the first place ? But my menopausal  personalities  personality has decided that it is time to get this house in order. And I mean a top to bottom, attic to basement, corner to corner, clean sweep. I mean the deep thorough cleaning which does not allow for sweeping things under the rug. And so it began... innocently enough.

I started pulling items out of the kitchen cabinets. My 11 month old granddaughter Olive actually inspired the cleaning of the kitchen cabinets since that is her favorite place to explore. She recently came across this ~



 and stared at me with bewilderment. I tried to explain to her that there is a logical reason for having a gazillion pepper shakers in the cabinet. I won't name any names but someone has a salt addiction and since I don't want the title of nagging mother-in-law I keep my mouth closed about the dangers of too much sodium in one's diet ...and now I must apologize to my mom for mocking her when I was younger for collecting dozens of empty peanut butter containers and allowing them to clutter up her cabinets. In the midst of all this cleaning I realized I had become my mother. I took a break from my cleaning so I could process this realization.


I also tackled the ever growing piles and piles and more piles of books in my house. I love to read. I love to read the old-fashioned way by holding a real book in my hands ~ no automatic high tech book machine for me ~ I love to smell the book and feel the pages between my fingers. But my book collection is a wee bit out of control so I weeded through so I could take some to our local library. These are the books I decided to give away...                                                   










   ...notice any  particular theme among them ?

I couldn't bring myself to give any of the others away. I know what you are thinking...hoarder ! No, I'm not. I just love my books. And there is a logical explanation why I have all of those pepper shakers. I took a break from my cleaning so I could read 'School of Essential Ingredients'. It is a great read for the beach or if you are trying to escape from cleaning.

I decided to tackle the pantry which can be a scary proposition since there is often a forgotten potato lurking somewhere...there are few things that smell worse than a rotten potato. I wore my protective cleaning gear to protect myself from the overgrown dust bunnies and entered with caution. I tried to organize the canned goods alphabetically but lost interest with that by the time I was up to the letter 'C'. I realized that I could probably make enough pasta to feed our entire town...does spaghetti get stale ? On the very top shelves in the pantry I found these...



                                                                                  
My husband found these in the basement of an old house he bought years ago ~ a true fixer upper. I don't know quite what to do with these gems but one thing is certain ~ I am not going to sample any of them. So back to the top of the pantry shelf they went ~ to sit until the next time I get into a cleaning frenzy.

The desk and its drawers are one of my favorite items to clean out. It is like taking a walk down memory lane...and I sit down to read old birthday cards, love letters, and pictures.  I laugh, I smile, and sometimes I even cry. This whole spring cleaning routine is exhausting...physically and mentally. I open one last drawer in the desk to find ~



and I decide that I have done enough cleaning for one year day and I sit down to color my world and nourish my soul.

18 comments:

Willow said...

HOW many pepper shakers?? :)

I think teachers clean in June, always in June. I have been.

Brian Miller said...

the only thing i like about spring cleaning is finding treasures you once thought lost...and that is a lot of pepper...lol

Maggie May said...

Oh .... you are good doing in depth cleaning. Not a day goes by when I don't vow to do this and somehow or other, something happens to prevent it. I let myself get prevented quite a lot!
However, I have been trying to tidy up one corner at a time!
Love your pictures.
Erm..... not sure you did explain why you had so many pepper pots!
Those crayons are just asking to be used for a lovely picture!
Maggie X

Nuts in May

Natalie said...

I hear you on every count! xx♥

Akelamalu said...

The last time I 'did' my kitchen cupboards was FIVE YEARS AGO - when we had a new kitchen fitted.:(

Daryl said...

Now you can come to my house and help me get rid of some of the stuff I cant bear to part with tho I will say in my own defense that I did a huge book purge (took them to the library) and a tschka purge ... after ToonMan painted all but the area around my desk last July ... he left the removal and replacement of my 'crap' as he put it to me .. and when it was removed he painted and then I got to replace .. and purge ..

Jeni said...

Oh please! First Maggie Mae, now you, blathering about spring cleaning and how therapeutic it is and all that. I am holding my fingers in the shape of a cross in your direction in hopes of warding off any contamination of this bug on me! Anyone who can dig in and do all the rigorous stuff involved in true spring cleaning -like my Mom and Grandma used to do -well, more power to you, just don't touch or breath on me!

R. J. said...

I can sympathize. I recently cleaned my kitchen cabinets and discarded some spices that were probably toxic. I am trying to remember to write dates on any spices I buy now so I am always reminded of their ages when I use them. I think spices start to taste awful as they age unlike some things like wine.

Liz Mays said...

What is the logical reason for the pepper shakers? I understand the books though. Who has but a few of them lying around, right?

imbeingheldhostage said...

Well I certainly enjoyed your cleaning spree :-) I do need to go get rid of my peanut butter jars though...

Hilary said...

Fun post. I feel like I was right there helping you but without having to do any of the work. Those pepper shakers.. is that because you're buying them paired up with salt shakers and only go through salt? Why not hit the dollar store, buy a large shaker meant for grated cheese or something and combine them all into one. Or just toss them out if you don't go through pepper! ;)

Deb said...

So I guess I didn't clarify why I have so many pepper shakers and no salt shakers. I often buy the p&s containers together ~ for picnics, large family dinners...my son-in-law uses WAY TOO MUCH salt so...I am often left with just the pepper shakers. I now just refill real shakers so I am not left with a gazillion pepper shakers. : )

Beverly said...

Good for you. I love cleaning out. It gives such a feeling of accomplishment.

Sueann said...

Pepper shakers huh? Enough said!!
I have always said that when you open a drawer to clean it out; it becomes a closet full of things. When you open a closet to clean it out; it becomes a room!!!
Congrats on your POTW!!
Hugs
SueAnn

Cheryl Kohan said...

First of all, congratulations on being on of Hilary's Posts of the Week! Secondly, congratulations on deciding to not let your blog control your life. I totally know where you're coming from and I suspect I'm not the only one. I think it's a form of tough love. Great post. I think I'll go clean a cupboard, now :-)

Land of shimp said...

Congratulations on the post of the week mention over at Hilary's blog. Spring cleaning is always fun, in that you end up discovering things you didn't even know you had.

This is particularly true of moving, when everything must be packed up. Apparently I am in possession of a truly frightening decorative plate, the origin of which is entirely unknown.

Perhaps we should introduce it to your ancient liquor bottles. They could swap stories of the good ol' days :-)

Daryl said...

back to say congrats on the POTW mention at Hilary's

gaelikaa said...

Reminds me - I have to do a cleaning spree myself! I did enjoy experiencing yours with you.

Congratulations on your POTW mention!

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