Fall Cleaning

Around here, I find that Fall Cleaning is more necessary than Spring Cleaning. Oh, I understand why it was necessary for the total house cleaning to be in spring. After a winter of burning coal and wood, the house is full of ash and soot. Boots worn in the house tramped in mud and things I'd rather not think about from streets and barnyards. And now that there's more light coming in the windows, you can see all the dirt.

Not having to deal with any of that, as we are a shoes-off house and use a cleaner form of heating, I find that Fall Cleaning is much more necessary. All summer, the house has been neglected. Most of our days are spent outside, and we wind up dumping and dashing. Housecleaning is not the most enjoyable thing to do when it's 85 degrees, either. So the household chores slide for the summer, and after the boys head back to school, I'm staring at an empty, filthy house, with a lot of time on my hands, and no excuses.

So this week, I've started my Fall Cleaning. I'm starting in the kitchen, cleaning out drawers and shelves, and getting rid of anything that hasn't been used in the last year. It's the worst room in the house after replacing the countertops a couple of months ago. The oven is cleaning away, and I'm pulling down all the spiderwebs that always pop up this time of year. They're often back the next day, though. Of course, if anyone notices one, I'm just letting the little guys decorate for Halloween!

In other goings-on, it's time to start the fall yard clean-up. I've been hacking down the daisies, pulling weeds as I go. Somehow I missed a bunch of huge thistles, so will need to put on the armor to go after them. Mr. E assures me that he will catch the mole in the backyard by the end of the week (oh, cocky he is). And a mixture of big leaf maple, vine maple, and bittersweet nightshade, roots entwined with roots needs to be pulled out and dealt with, but I don't think I'm going to get around to it today.

Off to the garden....