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Thursday, July 7, 2011

Pre-Vacation Jitters (and more cleaning)

I've had a few people ask me why I'm so anxious to get the house cleaned up before we leave. I have lots of reasons...

~ I want to come back to a clean house.
~ I hope that the landlord is going to do some work in here while we're gone, so I want it to be clean.
~ The neighbor is going to be getting my mail and bringing it into the house and doing a walk-through each day to make sure that everything's fine, so I want it to be clean.
~ It's a good excuse to do some deep cleaning that I've been ignoring for a while.

But really, probably the biggest reason is that my nerves are shot. Completely and totally shot.

Why?

Because we are ready to go on this trip. The van is ready, we have all of the "stuff" that we need, and the finances are in place. We could leave right now if we wanted to.

But we can't. We have 14 more days to go before we can leave. I am so terrified that something is going to happen between now and then, and we won't be able to go. I'm afraid that something is going to happen to the van, or someone is going to get sick, or there's going to be some horribly expensive something go wrong that is going to prevent us from going.

My. Nerves. Are. Shot.

I want to go. But we can't go yet. I'm worse than a kid counting down the days until Christmas right now.

When I get stressed about something, I do two things. (1.) I eat. (2.) I clean. I'm trying very hard not to eat myself stupid (failing on that one) so I am focusing on cleaning.

I have gotten rid of a ton of stuff already. I've shipped stuff out to people that I promised to ship to them months ago. I've shredded 7 shredder cans' worth of paper. I've recycled more crap than I care to think about. I filled my big trash can to the top the other night before it had to go out to the curb.

One thing about it. My house will be clean by the time that the trip actually gets here.

I didn't do as much cleaning today as I wanted to, but in my defense I had a couple of extra kids here during the day so things were a little chaotic. But, my older 3 are now gone for the next (almost) week so I have a little more time to get things done without it being immediately trashed again.

I mainly focused on the area around my desk this evening. I'm not sure why the first picture came out so blurry, but you can still get an idea of what it looked like before. Keeping this area clean is a challenge because, well, it gets used. A lot.



Now, I am going to try to stop cleaning, stop eating, and go sew for a little while. I need to do something to keep my mind occupied.

17 comments:

  1. I have to giggle because your computer is on Facebook in both pictures.

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  2. Of course it would! Either FB or Scary Mommy's message board. But it's much easier to clean when you're not on FB... which may explain the state of my house at the moment.....

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  3. *standing O* !!! awesome job...imagine more to come to keep yourself busy...hate to wish time away, but hoping it goes quickly for you and that all goes well..
    mare
    oh, and isn't facebook ALWAYS supposed to be up on your computer??? just saying'
    mare

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  4. Amy we clearly have many similarities when it comes to our cleaning patterns. Not only do I go into cleaning frenzies before I go out of town I am also a stress cleaner. I come by that trait honestly, my mom and sister are also stress cleaners.

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  5. I'm a "procrastination cleaner". When there are things I need to do but REALLY don't want to do, I'll clean instead. I'll tell myself: no, I can't do the taxes yet because the dishes are dirty.

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  6. I wish I could relax. It's 2:30am and I just got done cleaning the bookcase. *sigh* this is ridiculous.

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  7. I completely agree with the reasons for your pre-vacation cleaning spree.
    I'm doing it too!

    We leave the 21st but we come back the 24th. Just a weekend up to the Lake.
    HOWEVER... my vacation from work starts on the 18th. From the 18th to the 20th. I will be relaxing, and packing. . . . While Emry is at school/camp.

    Ahhhhh. So Excited!

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  8. Love it. I should be cleaning at the moment.... or taking care of a kid. instead - I'm freaking out because when I took the plunge to my own domain name I lost my blog lists on the side. .. *** sigh*** when you take a break from cleaning = come on over and tell me what you think of the new design. I'm NOW at www.alittlesomethingforme.com
    check that out! I'm a dot com.
    this is me doing a happy dance.
    in my messy room.
    but you can do a happy dance with me.
    in your clean room.
    *sigh* - I can't wait for you to go either.
    Kristen :)

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  9. Kat, that sounds like fun! I'm so glad we have a lake just a few minutes from here, even if it is a tiny one! I can get my lake "fix" without having to deal with packing.

    Kristen, I will definitely come check it out - however, right now, I just got out of the shower and I have some errands to run with the boys before my extra kids get here. It's always something, isn't it?

    But I'm happy dancing for you, Ms. DotCom!!!

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  10. I LIE AND TELL WHOEVER COMES INTO THE HOUSE, EXCUSE THE DUST AND DIRT. THE CLEANING LADY COMES TOMORROW. LOL. I DON'T HAVE A CLEANING LADY.
    IS IT CLEANNING OR CLEANING? LOL

    YOU HAVE TO HAVE SOME FAITH THAT EVERYTHING WILL BE OK. I NEVER START OUT ON A LONG TRIP THAT I DON'T TAKE A MINUTE AND ASK GOD TO GRANT US A SAFE TRIP. WE'VE NEVER HAD A PROBLEM.

    GRANNY

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  11. I always clean before I leave so I don't have to come home to a wreck all worn out!

    I love that your computer is on FB in both!

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  12. Granny - love the line about the cleaning lady - I should try that one some day! And trust me, there will be lots of prayers going into this trip - leading up to it, on the road, when we get back, every second of it!

    MamaMash - it's pretty much always on FB or Blogger, 99% of the time! LOL

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  13. I too like to come home to a clean house...tho mine needs a deep cleaning right now..the last two weeks have been crazy busy so it's quite messy.. Plus having a BUSY 15 month old!! Ai yi yi!!

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  14. I had a huge issue with my desk too and tackled it a few months ago. If you make a place for everything it gets easier. Chronicled here: http://www.hermanmiller.com/lifework/author/vanessavanessamcgrady-com/

    Good luck and great blog!

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  15. 40licious - On my way to check that out now! Thanks for stopping by!

    :)
    Amy

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