Officially Fall

Yesterday was the autumnal equinox, the first day of fall. After the dog-heat days of summer, that were too hot to even take my baby-4-yr-old girl to the pool, I am READY for those crisp winds and chilly nights. And yes, even the rainy and grey days. Today was one of those days.

The one thing I love most about these dreary days (that is, as long as there's not more than 2 or 3 in a row) is that for some reason still unknown to me... I. Want. To. Clean!! There's nothing more I love than to haul out the mulitple and sadly under-used brooms, scrub brushes, sprays, and elbow grease. I even have made a list of the cleaning I'm looking forward to doing. I think I do more of a "Fall Cleaning" whereas most people do "Spring Cleaning".

Now, for those of you without kids, you're probably asking yourselves what the big deal is. Ask anyone with at least one kid old enough to walk. There is no such thing as a clean house with kids. Anything that I clean, she's uncleaning in the next room. My little imp usually just does it in the same room, right in front of my face. LOL I'm doing dishes, she's getting a snack from the fridge. I'm vaccuming, she's pulling out Candyland on the middle of the living room floor. I scrub the toilet, she wants to take a bath.

So, I'm ashamed to say, my house is very rarely spotless. Don't get me wrong - I don't have trash laying around or rotting food like the show "Hoarders". But it's cluttered. I personally prefer the comfy, lived-in look compared to a bare, contemporary style anyway. But I definitely need at least an hour to pickup before a friend comes over - usually two is preferable. If I have a solid weekend (or an uninterrupted 5-6 hours without Angel or Jason in the house) to clean, it can be spotless and stay presentable for a week. But then our lives get busy and I don't have time to keep it up. Then we slowly regress to the 2-hour-company-notice level. I rarely let the kitchen/living room get worse than a fast 1 hour pickup, unless Angel and I have just spent a weekend at my Mom's house and haven't unpacked. Those are the only rooms company usually sees anyway.

Getting off-track here...

SO, I have my list of winterization stuff to take care of and that crosses over into my list of deep-cleaning I need to do, along with decorating for fall and changing wardrobes from spring/summer to fall/winter. I'm getting as much as I can done this weekend. Even getting Angel out of my hair, I mean, the house so that I can clean uninterrupted. hmmm... I wonder if any other non-OCD mother gets this excited about a chance to clean house?

Happy Fall!!