Housecleaning

Housecleaning is a thorn in my side. It pesters me in the early mornings when I wake up and trip over laundry and trash that needs to be taken outside. It also greets me when I get home from work at night. It’s like man’s best friend, or not.

I am by no means a slob, just ask my husband. In fact, he thinks I am obsessive when it comes to being clean. I give him dirty looks when he has more than one pile of ‘to dos’ on his desk. I run around the house like a mad woman when I clean, wiping every surface and vacuuming every corner. I can’t stand clutter and I can’t stand mess.

So, once again, I am linking to an old Dave Barry column about housecleaning. (By damn, I think I relate my life to Dave Barry columns…..good grief. Can you say ‘obsessed reader?’ Haha.) I love his practical homemaker tip of putting baking soda in the refrigerator. Check it out.

The column reminds me of when my husband I were first married (don’t I sound old now?). I mean, like the first month he and I were married when we were still learning all the quarks about each other. I put baking soda in the microwave one morning after we made the easy-cheesy microwave bacon. My husband pulled the tiny bowl out of the nuker and looked at me with a severely puzzled look. “How long should I set this for??”

I about fell off my chair laughing.

“No honey, it’s just to absorb the smell.”

“Oh.” And with an even bigger puzzled look he put it back in the nuker and closed the door.

Another thing we learned fast about each other was who puts the laundry in the washer and who folds it. Our first load of laundry consisted of the following:

My husband so lovingly tossed the whole basket of laundry in the washer and turned hot water on. I flipped out. The jeans were with the kitchen towels and they were with my nice dress clothes and his dirty work clothes were right next to my undies. No!!!!! I quickly explained the color coded system I grew up with. Darks, lights, towels, jeans. Darks, lights, towels, jeans. I feverishly pulled all the laundry out of the washer and selected a few pairs of jeans to start.

Long story short, I start the laundry and he finishes by folding it. Teamwork everyone, it’s a wonderful thing.

After being married almost a year (whoo hoo!) I thought I had learned all my husband’s quarks. Nope. I don’t think I will ever stop learning about the way he does things or the way he doesn’t do certain things (like the way he can walk by the trash bag sitting by the door). It’s all just a fun part of marriage!