Cleaning

There is something about living in a new house that give me an unusual desire to clean. I love to see the sparkling floors, the vacuum lines in the carpet, the empty kitchen cabinets, and everything in its place.

I think it's because I hate moving. I hate the cardboard box prision, the empty house, the disorganization of what is packed and what isn't. I don't enjoy the long list of things to do before you move. It's frustrating to spend all day packing only to look around at night time, completly exausted, and see how much more there is to do.

I equally dislike the move and unpacking part. Again you are surrounded by the cardboard boxes, both the sight and the smell. There is what seems like never ending shifting and moving of both boxes and furniture as you decide where you want things. (Like that one kithen cupboard that I have now rearranged twice and needs to be done again.)

I also dislike the lonliness and overwhelming life feelings that come with a new move. All at once you realize that you know no one; Who do you call to babysit? Where should you get your hair done? Is there a doctor in town? I wonder if I should change the address on my drivers licence yet? Have I applied for Health Care yet?

The paperwork is never ending, as I write this there is a huge pile of it sitting in my kitchen because I haven't got my filing system organized and I just don't even know what to do with it all.

On top of all this there has been the hassle of buying a home and signing the papers, and the fact that our children had to go to school.

Yes our poor kids were uprooted and plunked into a new school. LATE. You know where everyone already know everyone else and you stick out more than you would have just three weeks earlier at the beginning of the year when everyone in the class was new and didn't know the rules. I think I cried less on both kids first days of kindergarden than I did when I had to walk away and leave them alone, and almost crying in a new class last week.

I think all of this stress together is why I sit happy in my clean house today. Yes there is still scheduling, paperwork, and banking to figure out. I still need to clean the bathrooms that I have been ignoring for the last two weeks, and yet...

My house is clean, the floor is sparkly, the countertops (thanks to the dishwasher) are empty, the carpets still have vacuum lines in them, there are pictures on my wall, and most of my decorations are unpacked. Despite the things yet to do the big details of the move are over. And I love my clean house because I know that the chaos is over, it's MY house now.

Oh I know that in a few months when our schedule has kicked into high gear, and the details of moving are behind us, and all that is ahead are the details of living, I won't feel like cleaning. Cleaning the house will be a task that I have to tolerate. So for now I clean and putter and nest and simply enjoy beginning to make this our new home.