My little one woke up with a runny nose this morning. Le Sigh.
My eldest started explosively sneezing and swiping at her nose by mid-day. Le Sigh.
We’re doing better this year. We’re healthy for two weeks between illness instead of the one week gap of the previous year. Le Sigh.
So, quarantine again.
Well Fooey. I’m not getting out of jammies. But I WILL clean the bathrooms. Finally.
No joke, I have not scrubbed the shower or bath tub for easily 6 months. I wanted to get that out there lest you think I am one of those uber clean moms who have their sh*%t or motivation or what-have-you together enough to keep a regularly maintained house. I keep the basics (like toilets, sinks, floors, surfaces, bedding) clean and all else are left to when I can drag my ass to actually attend to them.
The thing is, a clean home is my happy place. I don’t know why it is so hard to just do the work. I guess it’s because most days I am so busy getting me and the kids out of the house that I don’t actually make much home time, you know, for domestic things. Just enough time to prepare meals, pick up, do some laundry. No real deep cleaning. And then there’s the piece where I’ve felt totally exhausted for the past 4.5 years…starting right around the time my first-born arrived…you can draw at your own conclusions.
Today, I surprised myself by getting really into cleaning. I mean, getting down on hands and knees, scrubbing the shower floor like a good little Cinderella, even getting the old toothbrush out to get the fine details. Heck, I even soaked the shower curtain edge in vinegar to get the mold stain out AND I soaked all the bath toys…and by the way:
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: BATH TOYS ARE DEADLY! They are mold farms. DO NOT BUY BATH TOYS. That little hole in it? Entry for water that never exits and starts the mold colony. Just use regular plastic toys from the play room that are not hollow. Perfectly satisfying, NOT DEADLY.
Where was I?
Oh yeah, I really got into cleaning. I can’t believe I got so into it and my kids LET ME. We must have turned a corner in their development because they actually left me alone for TWO HOURS while I scrubbed like a maniac.
And it felt GOOOOOOD.
This felt like self care to have spotless bathrooms. It has cleansed me in some way. I feel so…so perfectly domestic…and it’s okay, because for once I’ve aced it.
I’m gonna try and enjoy the scene of my shining, streak free, mold/mildew free bathrooms before the hubs comes home and decides that tonight is the night he shaves his hair (I swear always and without fail, the site of a spotless sink triggers the “must shave” impulse in him), and the kids decide to rampage in with all their toys, smearing tooth paste on the counter, splashing water on the floor and ripping up bits of toilet paper just for shits and giggles.
This is good for my health. This is healing.
I should do this more often.
S
Ruminations on Motherhood 