The Mop, The Mouse and The Bottom Line

OK, so a number of recent circumstances have forced me to rethink my stance on cleaning.

First, I found it difficult to stand in my kitchen without shoes on because of the ick and grit. In my defense with the constant onslaught of rain and snow this region has seen a certain amount of ick is to be expected what with dogs and people tracking in mud and, of course, ick.

I started by sweeping, then moved on to vacuuming, then used the vacuum hose, then swept, vacuumed, and hosed again.

After the preliminary steps were fulfilled I moved onto the mop. This started out promising as I reached for my trusty, rarely used sponge-on-a-stick mop. In a moment of delusion I decided to change out the mop head. Bad idea. The other mop head I own turned out to be a tad too big, and I mangled the mop stick wresting the old head off.

This left me to do the only rational thing: use the mop head by itself and mop everything old school. I got down on the same level as the ick and the grit and scrubbed like I've never scrubbed before, which was only partially true because this is how I clean my hardwood in my bedroom.

Still, it was exhausting, and I know when I let the dogs in and they make a mess, which they will, I am going to be heartbroken.

The second recent event was the mouse. I am not afraid of them or worried about them in a stand on the chair screaming way, but I do have the tendency to over-react, I mean really just stupid-crazy over-react.

Hedwig, the impossibly unphotogenic cat, entered the living room and I said to my sister she has a mouse in her mouth, referring to Hedwig not my sister, since I would like to think if my sister had a mouse in her mouth she wouldn't need me telling her.

I reacted calmly until I realized how life-like the toy mouse was.

If memory serves me my thought process went as followed: I need something to put this mouse in - I have a cup - it still has liquid in it - oh here's another cup - I'll pour the little bit in - shoot, there was a lid on the other cup - OK I now have an empty cup - where's the cat - aha, put cup on cat's head hold in mouse - ooo cat doesn't like that - now I've lost the cat and the mouse - ahh mouse went behind couch - put couch in middle of living room - no mouse hmmm - where is mouse - cat has left obviously bored with this game - sister has a stick - my stick now - beat on everything in house yelling "No Mouse Go Away Mouse" and various obscenities - should work - shoot I'm missing Ice dance - have I hit over there yet - what's the cat looking at - should I yell more obscenities at the mouse...

At one point my sister asked what I would do if the mouse jumped out at me and I told her the truth: I would scream like a little girl. And then the chase would begin anew.

I guess the bottom line is cleaning is completely different from staightening up. I vacuum a lot and I organize a lot, but when it comes down to really giving the place a good once over and all, well, not so often. But not anymore. I can change and make this place a little cleaner. I just know it. That was a great pep talk, now where's my bed?