Background

If you’re like me, cleaning is not the most interesting or exciting thing you could do with your time. It probably isn’t even on the list of Top 10 Things I’d Do If I Had a Day to Myself. Which, today, I do. My friend Holly let Jarom drop the kids off at her house on his way to work, so they’re stuck until he gets off at 5! Suddenly, being down to just one car is a good thing.

I’ve already caught up on sleep, had several bowls of Rice Krispies Treats cereal, and finished watching Part I of the Anne of Green Gables movie. Now it’s time to clean . . . because I’d feel guilty letting this perfect opportunity go by. Though it is less-than-perfect in the sense that I DON’T WANT TO CLEAN.

The only resolution I made for 2013 is to develop a routine that lets me spend a little bit of time tidying the kitchen every day, instead of a once-a-week or once-every-other-week 3-hour ordeal, desperately trying to figure out where all of our silverware went and why the table is covered in smears of peanut butter. But today I have no interest in working on the kitchen – yet. First, I’d like to get the living room cleared out enough that we can take the Christmas tree out to the curb tomorrow. Guys . . . it’s a huge, HUGE tree. I don’t know how to emphasize that enough. It takes up way too much room, and now that Christmas is over, I want my space back! We rearranged the couches to put the tree up, and [#firstworldproblems] I have to sit sideways or turn my neck a ton to use the computer. Have pity on me and my hard life!

When we moved into this house, I made a playlist to keep me in a good mood while I was unpacking. It gets tweaked and updated pretty frequently, and right now it’s called “Laundry” because that’s the chore I do most often. (And even that isn’t very often. Poor neglected house.) I put it on for background noise – the house really is too quiet after a certain point – but even the music seems boring today! I seldom feel quite this unmotivated. For a while I tried to think of a prize I could give myself for cleaning, but then that seemed even more depressing than just sitting on the couch. Alone. In silence.

As I’m finishing this post up, “Perfect Situation” by Weezer is playing. I don’t claim to keep my playlist updated with current music. The oldest song on there at the moment? “I Walk the Line” by Johnny Cash. Thank you, Academic Decathlon.