Cleaning Day
/Back in the days of our courtship, Friday nights meant dinner out and holding hands during a movie. Ten years into the marriage, Friday nights now mean "Scrubbing bubbles" and the smell of Lysol. That's right, Friday night is cleaning night.
Aside from a quick vacuum and cursory dust, we used to be able to go for almost a month without having to do a heavy-duty cleaning. We're neat people by nature, and tend to clean up after ourselves as we go. All that ceased to matter however, when we got cats.
The first cat wasn't so bad. We noticed some extra hair around the house and instigated an "every-other" week cleaning policy, which we did on Sundays. (Go to church all you want--nothing brings God closer to me than waking up Monday morning to a spotless house).
Then we got cat number two.
She looks innocent enough. Fairly small, a tabby, big round eyes that plead innocence to every wrong doing. How were we to know she was little more than a 24/7 shedding machine?
Day three after she was with us we realized big changes were in order. We started a weekly cleaning. With both of us working top speed, non-stop, we can have the house clean (floors swept, tubs polished, trim dusted) in about 3 hours. Every other day of the week, I love our home. On Fridays, I can be found cursing as I run the vacuum, wondering aloud why is it exactly we think we need so much d*@# space??
We soon realized though, that the weekly cleaning wasn't doing the trick. We'd put the finishing touches on a room, walk out and then hear a "fwhump!" as the kitten walked by and deposited two tons of new hair on the floor.
Back to the drawing board.
So we took it back down to every other week. Might as well, for all the difference the weekly cleaning makes. And we do make efforts to roll the couch (to get rid of excess cat hair), wipe out sinks, and do a mid-week vacuum.
Still, I miss the days of being able to clean out of desire versus stark necessity.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get an early start on cleaning. I think I'll need it. If I'm not mistaken, I just heard several loud "fwhump" noises in the hall.
Aside from a quick vacuum and cursory dust, we used to be able to go for almost a month without having to do a heavy-duty cleaning. We're neat people by nature, and tend to clean up after ourselves as we go. All that ceased to matter however, when we got cats.
The first cat wasn't so bad. We noticed some extra hair around the house and instigated an "every-other" week cleaning policy, which we did on Sundays. (Go to church all you want--nothing brings God closer to me than waking up Monday morning to a spotless house).
Then we got cat number two.
She looks innocent enough. Fairly small, a tabby, big round eyes that plead innocence to every wrong doing. How were we to know she was little more than a 24/7 shedding machine?
Day three after she was with us we realized big changes were in order. We started a weekly cleaning. With both of us working top speed, non-stop, we can have the house clean (floors swept, tubs polished, trim dusted) in about 3 hours. Every other day of the week, I love our home. On Fridays, I can be found cursing as I run the vacuum, wondering aloud why is it exactly we think we need so much d*@# space??
We soon realized though, that the weekly cleaning wasn't doing the trick. We'd put the finishing touches on a room, walk out and then hear a "fwhump!" as the kitten walked by and deposited two tons of new hair on the floor.
Back to the drawing board.
So we took it back down to every other week. Might as well, for all the difference the weekly cleaning makes. And we do make efforts to roll the couch (to get rid of excess cat hair), wipe out sinks, and do a mid-week vacuum.
Still, I miss the days of being able to clean out of desire versus stark necessity.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get an early start on cleaning. I think I'll need it. If I'm not mistaken, I just heard several loud "fwhump" noises in the hall.
