File: Life

Anytime I clean the house, I feel like a rockstar. I realize how ridiculous that is, but it's true. I feel like I've just run a marathon, played for the President, conquered a culprit. So, while Matt ran 10 miles yesterday, I scrubbed the kitchen.

I had felt inspired because he did a Make blog project, turning his old Powerbook into a picture frame. It now displays our photos in a continuous slideshow. He hung it on the wall, just to see how it's going to look. It's going to be awesome.

So, I felt like I needed to do something. We both want to solve our house ugly. Our problem is that we clean in manic-like states. The house gets to be too much, then we freak out and do a marathon-cleaning. We talked about this yesterday, too. Part of the reason for this is that we're both designers. To use Matt's words, we'd rather take the time to figure out how to make something to sweep the stairs, rather than just sweeping the stairs. I put up a chore list in the kitchen. It's a weekly chore list. We decided that a week was Monday-Sunday, so I couldn’t check anything off. This was okay because I wanted to clean anyway. So, I cleaned the kitchen. Our biggest problem is the accumulation of stuff. Things just pile upon pile. But, I did it. I made it through the kitchen (and only the kitchen, following the one project at a time rule which I’m notorious for breaking), fixing things that had bugged me for awhile. (For example, we don't hang pictures for whatever reason. So, I stacked them nicely and placed them artistically throughout the kitchen and felt that I made a design choice. I created a space that we want to be in. And I feel like a superhero for that.

Our friend Karen calls cleaning “blessing the house.” I love that term because it feels so true.

Tonight, I conquer my laundry.