barefoot

While M was gone last week, I got the basement cleaning bug. This is a project that I put on our "to do" list over a year ago. It really needed to be done then. During the time it languished on the list, we continued to add to the problem by just shoving more crap in the storage/workshop area that needed cleaning. Why bother putting it away...might as well wait until we clean/reorganize, and just do it all at once. Added to the piles was the dust accumlated on, around, and under the piles. Added to that was the fallout of the Hunter/Mt. Dew fiasco.

Did I blog that? I totally can't remember and don't feel like looking. In short, he woke up very early one morning and somehow went from watching cartoons to him drinking a can of Mt. Dew from my stash of Throwback (real sugar, no HFCS), which led to him getting the rest of the 12-pack, a hammer, and a screwdriver. Naturally, since it was all right there in front of him, he felt compelled to experiment with various techniques to puncture the cans with the tools. M cleaned up the obvious mess. I suspected he had swiped towels over that which was on top and most obvious. I chose not to look, because I knew that if I looked, then I would have to clean it up. By not looking, I could just accept his "cleaned up" on face value and do nothing. I've paid for that willful neglect for hours, over the last several days.

This job has been dirty, a little gross, and hard on my body. I'm absolutely consumed by it! I'm having a hard time focusing on anything else, including eating and sleeping. I'm forcing myself to take a break and blog and eat a banana. (That's a lot of B's!) I'm about 60% done overall, but about 85% done with the hard &/or nasty work. I'm so happy with what is done so far and am determined to have a sparkly, organized basement by the end of this week! I put stuff like this off because when I do things like this, they are done thoroughly and well. Every item, every shelf, every inch of floor must be wiped clean. Every single object has a 'home', preferably grouped with like objects and sorted (by size, color, or alpha/numeric order). Oh how I love order! It never lasts around here--my family dislikes order. My perfectly sorted music and video collections (by genre, then in alpha order) never last more than a week. But it's SO beautiful for that week!:-D