By Gramma Dot

School is out and that means summer has begun…which means spring is winding down.  Is your Spring Cleaning done?  

 I grew up with a mom who believed in Spring Cleaning.  It was as much a part of our culture as church on Sunday and it meant a lot of work.  Every wall, every mopboard, every cupboard, every closet.  You get it because your mom was probably the same way.  Seems that generation put a lot of stock in having your floors so clean you could eat off of them.  Spring Cleaning has been a hit or miss activity at the Evanson home for years, but this year I decided to do it right.

 So, I began by determining to have a daily “project” and to keep those “projects” going until “you could eat off of my floors.”  First on the list was the master bedroom, bath, and closet.  Now, my house is not large, and I felt this could be done easily in a day, maybe two.  I began by emptying the closet.  It took two beds stacked high to hold everything because that closet was jam packed.  Reduce and simplify became my goal for the day.  Long story short, day one ended with a lot less stuff and I knew the next day’s project was painting that closet.

 Fast forward two weeks…that’s right, two weeks on what I thought would take two days max.  The bedroom, bath and closet are looking good.  Corners are clean, I know what I’ve got, and I learned some things along the way.  

 Early in the “project” I ordered one of those bucket-mop systems where you spin the mop.  It’s a game changer and it arrived the day before Hadley and Elle began a four-day visit. Elle’s comment about the mop, “I can’t stop doing this.”  Dunking the mop and spinning it dry made her day and she had no problem with running that mop up and down the walls in-between spins.  Hadley even gave it a try and her comment was, “We’ve got to get one of these things.”  I’ve always known if you had the right tool the job was easier.  Well, if you have the right tool and grandkids, you are in a beautiful spot.  

 Here's what else I’ve learned.  Spring Cleaning isn’t going to get done before summer.  I’ve got lots of projects ahead.  I don’t want to eat off my floors.  And Life is Good even if you only have one really clean room!