As head cook for the St. Clare family, Dinah had her own system for cleaning up. Perhaps some of you super-organized people out there won't be able to relate to Dinah's system, but I can -- all too well:
[Dinah] had, at irregular intervals, periods, paroxysms of reformation and arrangement, which she called "clarin' up times," when she would begin with great zeal, and turn every drawer and closet wrong side outward on to the floor or tables, and make the ordinary confusion seven-fold more confounded. Then she would light her pipe, and leisurely go over her arrangements, looking things over, and discoursing upon them; making all the young fry scour most vigorously on the tin things, and keeping up for several hours a most energetic state of confusion, which she would explain to the satisfaction of all inquirers, by the remark that she was a "clarin' up."
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin (ch.18)I don't smoke a pipe, but the point where Dinah lights her pipe is where I would make a pot of tea . . .
Have you started your spring
Here's some helpful links:
Living Well Spending Less has a "Spring Cleaning Checklist" free printable. I will be spending the rest of this week on step one. Right now it's still a bit cold in my neck of the woods. When it warms up, I'll be glad to have the organizing behind me so I can focus on dusting and scrubbing with the windows open!
Fly Lady is a free personal online housekeeping coach. I've been following Fly Lady off and on for a few years. She encourages you to start where you are and just take baby steps. Fly Lady was really helpful for me when I was emerging from postpartum depression and my entire house was a disaster.
I Heart Organizing is for when you have things pretty much under control and you are ready to take order to a whole new level. Sometimes visiting this site is inspiring and sometimes it's depressing; it depends on were I am with things. I don't recommend I Heart Organizing for when you are feeling overwhelmed with chaos. For CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) go to FlyLady.
Have fun! :)
This is inspiring, Adriana. Cleaning is the bane of my existence. In terms of being organized I am pretty good: if I need to find last year's tax forms or a particular student essay or my kids' medical receipts, I know where they are. But just keeping things day-to-day clean is so challenging. And I go around leaving cupboard doors open etc. -- so I will do things like try to scoop yogurt into a kid's lunch container and a big blob will fall into the drawer I didn't bother to close ... so then I have to take out all the cutlery and clean it & clean the drawer, which would be wonderful if I had actually INTENDED to clean that drawer at that moment, but usually it's just a big bother at a moment when I don't have time. ARGH! I think I should just go dropping blobs of yogurt around my house so that I HAVE to clean the affected areas....
ReplyDeleteJeannie, The day-to-day cleaning is a drag for me too. I wish it wasn't! I've tried all kinds of tricks: beat the timer, music, pretend company will be here in 30 minutes. The thing that works best for me is to actually have people over. We have company at least once a week. This keeps things from spiraling too far out of control! And my kids are really helpful. We have a funny dynamic in our home: My kids inspire and encourage me to do house work most of the time, not the other way around! I think it's because they know when things are squared away they get to have friends over! :) I haven't had to tell my 10yr old to clean his room in over a year. And my 9yr old daughter is a wonder.
DeleteBy the way, the narrator for this book from Librivox.org is superb! I had him read it to my kids when they did American Literature. I had read it myself when I did The Well-Educated Mind, but it was a whole new and fun experience to hear this narrator! He is a former actor. I have emailed with him and am so thankful he has done this for free on Librivox!
ReplyDeleteWe must talk literature for the kids. I would love to tell you what I did for them for high school. :)
I really appreciate that link you gave me on Facebook, Carol. I just checked out Librivox and it looks amazing. Thank you for thinking of me!
DeleteI would LOVE to know your thoughts on literature for kids! :)
Barging in here to ask if you mean the narrator for the Librivox "Uncle Tom's Cabin". I'd downloaded it, but never listened to it since I'm picky about voices. But now I'm thinking maybe I should give it a try for a future "reread".
DeleteSo glad you stopped by, Lit~Lass! Carol's reply is at the bottom.
DeleteThat clarin' up is how I dust away the cobwebs in my mind. Swat at them a bit and then leisurely stroll around in my thoughts, not necessarily any more organized but feeling a bit clearer-headed after ass is said and done!
ReplyDeleteTim, this reminds me of a line I read on Pinterest yesterday -- "That moment when you walk into a spider web and turn into a karate master." :)
DeleteI loved the descriptions of this from this book.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree. HSB sketched characters we can all relate to.
DeleteI'm now going to start calling my chillens' "young frys". They will also be responsible for Spring cleaning.
ReplyDeleteSomebody's got to do it! Right? I've got books to read!
Delete(Mom, if you're reading this -- I'm kidding!)
Seriously, cleaning house is a team effort for us. I DO try to make it fun when I can. Sometimes we have a sock folding party: I dump all of the socks on the living room floor and turn on the kids' favorite Go Fish CD. ("Take these shackles off my feet so I can dance . . .")And as I said above, the promise of company is a great motivator for my little extroverts. :)
Thanks so much for the link to the spring cleaning chart. It makes the whole job look less daunting! Oh, I like the passage from Uncle Tom's Cabin -- sometimes I wish I did smoke a pipe or something -- it might take the edge off some of this cleaning. :)
ReplyDeleteHa! My mother's grandmother smoked a pipe -- I suppose I've finally reached a stage of life when I can see why! Glad you found the chart helpful!:)
DeleteYes, the narrator for Uncle Tom's Cabin is great!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Carol!:)
DeleteThanks from me too, Carol. :)
Delete