The Challenge of Cleaning

Growing up, my mom always had a day that was meant for a deep clean. She would strip the beds, do loads of laundry, scrub the bathroom, vacuum the whole house, do a major dusting, remake beds, sweep, mop, reorganize... and Im sure loads of other things (sometimes windexing all the windowsand glass.

I liked the idea of having a few of those chores crammed into one day just so that I always remembered to do. So, Mondays are my strip the bed and clean the bathroom day.

As I mentionned in a previous post, Mondays are good days for me. I love getting up and going with my chores. The house is normally in quite a state due to the weekend and my motivation is high. This Monday was no different.

I woke up and the boys were still both asleep. So I quietly stripped my bed and remade it with clean sheets without waking them (remember they live in our room). I thought that the day was going to be so successful.

Then they woke up!

From that moment I thought I might scream. I got the boys dressed and brought them down for breakfast. As they ate I stepped outside to get something from the car and had a bird poop on my head. That was the beginning of the end.

Once the boys had eaten, Levi just started whining... He just ran around chasing me, crying and begging me to pick him up. I was ready to throw in the towel. If I tried to do anything one of the boys was demanding my attention.

I decided not to be defeated though. It was a tough decision. I figured if I accomplished one thing, at least it was better than nothing. So bit by bit I accomplished things.

First I managed to clean the counter tops and disinfect them.


But when one surface gets clean, another becomes the catch all:
Anything that didn't have a home just kind of ended up there.

Anyways, I managed to get the dining room clean of toys and dishes and even put on my table cloth (they'd been missing for some time and just a few days ago Dave found them all).
Once two loads of laundry were washed, I took the boys outside with me so I could hang them all on the line. Most kids thrive outside. Mine sat in their wagon crying at me to pull them. I really dont enjoy pulling them around in the wagon. Im so used to Matty who used to just play happily all the time. So, eventually Matty did get out and play with a ball and venture around the yard exploring but Levi was miserable. Once the laundry was hung I made us all go back inside...

Thankfully we walked inside and Levi was ready to play with Matthew so I seized the opportunity to clean the washroom.
It felt good to get every surface cleaned. Everything was spotless and disinfected. I even scrubbed the floors on my hands and knees and washed the toothbrush holder.

When done there, I swept the upstairs floor and all down the stairs. .

Lunch time came and I fed the boys and then put Levi to bed. I settled Matty on the couch for some quiet time with Franklin playing on the mini dvd played and got to work on the island. I actually managed to get it clean.
Now that that was done, all that was left was to clean the floors. I picked up any of the stray toys that were on the floor, swept everything very carefully and then got out the steam mop. I managed to mop the entire downstairs.

I left Matty on the couch while I went and took down the two loads of laundry, I folded and put them away, hung another load (the last one for the day) and then had time to breathe.

When I thought about it I realized, in the end, I had accomplished more than I had even imagined. I just had to keep plugging away any time I had a minute. Sure, cleaning day took the whole day instead of two hours start to finish, but it got done.

Its true that it just takes having the right mind set to remain undefeated.