It’s been way too long since I’ve had the time and freedom to give my house a good once over. With the snow melting and weekend all to myself, I started cleaning and organizing with a vengeance early this morning and didn’t stop til well past three o’clock in the morning. From visitors to my bout of near-death illness, things in my life were not as they should be. So I organized the pantry, scrubbed every visible surface, purged anything that was unused or unneeded, cleaned and straightened the closets, and finally tackled the chaos known as my desk. Then because I was feeling adventurous (and everyone wouldn’t stop making fun of me) I took my Christmas decorations down. Yes, folks, its a week into March and my Christmas decorations are down and my house is sad and depressing. I hope you’re happy.

Cleaning for me has always been a cathartic experience. Most days I have no real desire to clean. I’m not dirty; my house isn’t disgusting. I just choose to stockpile my cleaning tokens and cash them in when I need to work things out in my head or when I’m needing mindless therapy. Cleaning to me is about control and the ability to choose, and once I start, it takes hours and even days to have things in such a way that I can stop and sleep without wondering if I remembered to alphabetize my cds and arrange the dvds by genre. I won’t even try and convince you I don’t have minor OCD tendencies. All I can say is it works and my house is lovely and ready for family to visit, but more than that my head and soul are in order, too. Beat that.