Getting Ready for School

I am sorry I went on a blogging break without previous notice. But, look what I have been doing! Marissa’s homeschool curriculum arrived this week. So, I had to arrange a bookshelf to store all her new stuff. If you look closely, you will see that this shelf actually houses two rows of books.

“I would be the most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves” ~ Anna Quindlen

Now, some of you may think this is the height of nerdiness. Most of the people who consider me a friend know that owning a lot of books is a sign of a well organized mind. Actually, I am proudly, slightly nerdy though!

I won’t lie to you. Putting Marissa’s school books away didn’t take me all week. When I rearranged the shelf so that her books would fit on it, I dusted that shelf. I just can’t bring myself to put brand new books on an undusted shelf. I hadn’t planned on making a day of cleaning, but… I couldn’t dust just one shelf and leave the rest of the shelves undusted. When all the shelves were dusty, they still looked just fine because the dirt was undisturbed and evenly distributed. However, after cleaning one shelf, that one brilliantly clean spot made the nice even dust on the other shelves look, well, dirty! So, I took all the books off the shelves, dusted and then put them back. I was on a roll. The biggest, most tedious job was completed. Why stop?

I was raised by a crazy Scandinavian woman. She taught me that a room can’t be adequately or properly cleaned if there is furniture in it. With the exception of the bookcases which are too heavy to move and with Marissa’s help, I moved all the furniture from my living room into my dining room. Marissa was a champ. She only rolled her eyes once! With the furniture out of the room, I noticed that the wall needed washing badly. Several weeks ago, “I Don’t Know” ate in the living room and got something on the wall behind the keyboard. Marissa cleaned it off. If I stood at the correct angle, I could see a different sheen on the paint in the shape of a large circle. Next to the circle was Marissa’s handprints. I washed the walls.

Well, you all know that if your walls are clean, you have to shampoo your carpets! That was next. My poor cats! They don’t like the noise of the vacuum. The shampooer is just as loud. Then the carpets were wet. The furniture stayed in the dining room for the night. My male cat bellowed all through the night. With his favorite chair in the dining room filled with knick knacks, he was confused about where he might lay his head. Luckily, his world is back in order and he can sleep at night.

The next morning, Marissa and I moved all the furniture back into the living room. I used to own a carpet rake. Whenever I cleaned, I raked my way out of the room so that the carpet pile all faced the same way and there weren’t any footprints marring the surface of the freshly vacuumed room. I no longer own a carpet rake; I must have lost the rake in one of my military moves. Anyway, I was tempted to go out and purchase a carpet rake, but decided that would just be crazy! There really was no stopping at this point. Marissa and I moved on to the dining room.

The cleaning frenzy has not stopped. Why, I even organized my craft area! I have two more rooms in the basement (the master bedroom and the office) and the bathrooms to do and then the whole house will be ready to be closed up for the winter. It is cold, drizzly and dreary today. Perhaps, I am going to finish just in time. I am quite sure the leaves on the trees are not as green as they were at the beginning of the week…

My Mom is arriving in the cities this evening. I will be blogging-light during her stay. I don’t get to see her that often and wouldn’t want to spend all the time I had available to be with her on the computer… so in case I don’t get back tomorrow for Marissa Monday.

Here is a photo of Marissa taking a well deserved break.
She is watching a movie in the unfinished part of our basement.
It masquerades as our family room!