To Clean, or Not to Clean

I’m excited that my hubby arrives home tonight.    Although this is his 4th set of days off since we moved to Nova Scotia, this time is going to be a little different than the first three.  This is the first time we can actually spend the time together and (knock-on-wood) in more normal circumstances. 

His first stint home we spent unpacking, shopping for appliances and furniture and getting moved into the new house.  The second one was when my grandmother passed away.  It was a sad and busy time but I was so glad he was here for the support.  We definitely didn’t spend much time together and the mood in the house was no doubt somber.  The last time he was home was spent preparing for and executing a family reunion.  My grandmother specifically requested she did not want a funeral so instead we decided to get her entire family together in her honor.  I think she would’ve loved that because she was first and foremost all about her family.  Although the reunion was a fantastic time, it was still quite a bit of work and the house was a veritable zoo for the entirety of his last days off.

Where I'm going with this preamble is that I’m really looking forward to some peace with my hubby.  In order to ensure that the first couple days go by where we can really just relax and enjoy it I spent the past few days prepping for his return.  It’s not like I did anything in particular out of the ordinary but as I may have hinted before I may be a tad OCD.  What this means for me is I have a hard time relaxing unless things are in their proper order.  I spent the majority of the day cleaning the house so I can just hang out and enjoy some peace of mind that at least one day this week the house was attended to.

During my mom’s birthday celebration last night my Aunt and Uncle came for a visit.  My Aunt always laughs at me because she says that I’m a little too anal.  Last night she said that “You need to learn to lower your cleaning standards.”  She’s completely correct in this observation but trust me I have no idea how.  What makes it worse is that between my kids, my dog and my cats it is nearly impossible to maintain that standard for 10 minutes after it’s been achieved. 

I swear the absolute second that I am done vacuuming, sweeping and mopping the floors the dog chooses that time to shed half a dog worth of hair.  Plus of course after any meal time always results in a necessary full clean of the house.  If you think I’m kidding you should observe this afternoon’s lunch mess.  In fact I’ve included two photos to prove my point.  The first is the chair and floor surrounding my son’s place at the table resulting from just the noon meal (which was ham and cheese sandwiches and carrot sticks).  I have also included a photo of what the dustpan contains after sweeping up.  In this second picture I’d like you to note the amount of dog hair that is interspersed between the carrots and bread crumbs.  Honestly it looks like it’s been a week since I’ve bothered to sweep and not just the four hours since breakfast.  How does one keep up with this nightmare?  You should really see it when we have rice for supper, which I swear is the nastiest food to clean in the world.

I even took some time this week to clean out our mini-van.  The van is a new vehicle that we’ve purchased just in the last year so I feel obligated to attempt to keep it looking decent.  Who ever invented the carpet that they use in the automobile world needs to be drug out of their hole and tortured.  Do you know what I think would be the best punishment for this/these person(s)? Trying to vacuum out German Shepherd hair and Goldfish crumbs from all of the cars their product has been used in and if they’re not successful they lose an appendage.  Let me tell you there would be some limbless carpet weavers abroad.  The bond created between dog hair and this stuff is stronger than crazy glue.  Wouldn’t it make more sense to create a more user friendly product?  I mean I would prefer the bare fiberglass to this. 

I am just now, as I write this, coming to the conclusion that I’ve pretty much wasted my last couple days.  There are still two meals in between now and when the hubby arrives home and I’ve already taken three car rides since I vacuumed out the van. Therefore neither house or vehicle probably don’t look any different than when I started.  I wish I could just “let it go” but I’m pretty sure my property would be deemed condemnable if I failed to clean up after just one day spent at home eating regular meals.   This basically doesn’t solve anything. 

To clean, or not to clean, that is the question:
Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer
The Floors and Carpets of outrageous Fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of dog hair,
And by opposing end them: to sigh, to sweep.