Snoskred - Life in the Country

When I go to sleep at night, the road back from from the place I want to live flashes before me. Big tall trees on either side of the road but it’s like I’m flying so fast, they all blur. And my fear is, something’s gonna jump out in front of me and I’ll hit it. The faster I go, the more things I see threatening to jump out. I know I have to keep going. Moving forward.

I am not a perfect person. I am many things, and germophobe is one of them. You know those people who can’t go out of their house because they’re scared of germs? I’m not there yet, but I can see there from here. Germophobia is different for different people.

For me, I have trouble with -

- door handles
- sponges, teatowels, tablecloths
- food preparation - things have to be clean, clean chopping boards, clean knives, clean utensils
- needing to have clean hands
- people sneezing in my presence
- germ overload when I touch too many dirty things I begin to freak out
- getting to a place where I throw my hands in the air and say “I can’t deal with this” (such a place might be called germ overload)

I am in the process of making positive changes in many areas in my life, and today I have taken a big step towards a goal I set myself recently, which is having a cleaner house. You see for me, it is easier to live with dusty surfaces than to clean them. Cleaning becomes a big deal because if I am going to do it, I want to do it 100% all the time but I don’t have the energy to do this. An Olympic athlete does not have the energy to make things as clean as I would like them.

I have recently decided this all or nothing approach is a really bad idea. Spending 8 hours cleaning one bathroom is really not for me and in the past, it has been easier for me to just throw my hands in the air and say “I can’t face cleaning it” than to do a “lesser” job.

Carl Jung said - “We cannot change anything unless we accept it.”

I accept that I have a problem with cleaning. I accept that I am a germophobe. I accept that it is better for things to be somewhat clean than absolutely spotless or very unclean.

The serenity prayer says “grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference”.

I cannot magically snap my fingers and make myself a non-germophobe. I have to take baby steps towards making things better, and I have the courage and will to do this. I can create positive change. I cannot solve all the problems in the world, but this I can work on.

So recently I accepted that wiping things down with an anti-bacterial cloth once a week was a good idea and a positive change that I could make that would help me get to a place where I wasn’t throwing my hands in the air, unable to act. Over the past couple of weeks I have spent some time cleaning things obsessively.

3 days to do my bookshelves, come on you guys, that is NOT normal, it is not like I have an entire library here, there’s two book shelves with a total of 24 alcoves in them. Not only did I clean the shelves, I cleaned each book, each ornament on the shelves, all the picture frames, anything nearby. Obsessively. They are now spotless, and this means I can just wipe the shelves over, wipe the books which are getting dusty. If I do that once a week, I’ll feel a lot better.

Today I tackled the difficult subject of the bathrooms. I have been putting it off. The other day the other half said to me that he had no idea how someone who claimed to be a germophobe could live with such a bathroom situation. They were filthy. I said this germophobe could not live with having to clean these bathrooms. Whoever designed them is a real idiot. There are many spots for germs to hide. To clean the vanity tops usually takes me 2 hours alone and it is backbreaking because of the height of the darned things. They were designed for very short people.

That’s not even getting into cleaning the toilets. There’s not enough anti-bacterial hand wash in the world for me to cope with that. So I’d rather put it off, and put it off, and keep putting it off until I can’t take anymore.

When one does put in the hard yards and does the work, one feels a real sense of accomplishment. Now, I intend a quick wipe over once a week, and then I won’t have to do this evil backbreaking hours of work chore because it won’t get that bad. The trouble is having stuff on top of the vanity means you have to move all that stuff when you want to clean it. That’s what was stopping me from cleaning the bookshelves for so long. Too much stuff in the way which I’d have to move, and clean. I’m thinking a box with a lid would be a lot easier.

I just went into the bathroom before to wash my hands, and took great pleasure in the clean surfaces. I have to remember that when I start to think I can’t reach this goal. I can reach it. I know I can. And who put can’t in my vocabulary? I don’t like that word. Will not, sure. May not, fine. Do not, okie dokie. Can not - it has to be one of the previous three.

I’m so tired. I’ve been up since 7:30am and most of the afternoon was spent in a cleaning frenzy. I’m going to sleep for hours. Tomorrow it’s weekly wrap up time.

Would it surprise you to know that for the last hour and a half, I have been sitting here, reading blogs, but at the same time vacuuming my bathroom and bedroom? How is this possible? Am I a witch? Is it a kind of magic? Oh yes. Roomba magic. Click on any of these images for a larger view. To some this might seem like the ultimate in laziness, but if you stop and think for a minute nobody likes to vacuum and there are those among us who are physically not able. When I used to work in retail I sold a lot of these to people with arthritis, people in wheelchairs and elderly people. I also sold several to local businesses who wanted to be able to keep on top of their vacuuming without having to be a slave to the vacuum.
Me, I have two cats. Until you have lived in a house with two cats you really have no idea just how much hair they leave around. Roomba is my salvation, especially at moulting time. Many people with pets bought these and came back to let me know how much they love their Roomba. You can work it however you want. How it works here is every morning I put Roomba in a room, hit the “max” button and shut the door. Max means, he cleans until he runs out of power. When he’s done, he makes this sad little beep, it sounds sort of like an electronic “uh oh”. When I hear it I go clean him and put him back on the base station so he can get recharged. He leaves little trails so you can see where he has been. Over the course of an hour in a room, he generally hits every spot on the floor and cleans it. These pics are from a room he was in for about half that time, he’s not done there yet, but I wanted you to be able to see the trails. When he’s done, I usually take him to where the large vacuum cleaner is sitting (always plugged into the wall) and give him a quick clean out. You only need to clean two spots - the little dust chamber, and the pull out filter. It’s easy and painless. This is what he picked up this morning. He generally picks up this much each day from whatever room I put him into. So you can imagine how much dirtier the house would be without him. I refer to Roomba as a he, The Other Half calls him a She. How interesting! If you don’t have doors, Roomba comes with two “virtual walls” where a signal is transmitted to him and he thinks there’s a wall there, so he won’t go past the doorway. He works on tiled floors and carpets as well as lino/vinyl and wood floors - without scratching. He does carpets especially well because he has the little carpet brush on the bottom. I adore him. The kitties are not so sure, after an unfortunate incident where he stole their tuna. And put it all over the kitchen floor. Note to all - make sure any cat or dog or other animal food is NOT left on the floor while Roomba-ing. Just a handy tip to prevent you having tuna all over the place. As apparent by the tuna incident, Roomba is not perfect. You will still need a normal vacuum to make it easier to clean Roomba when he comes back to base. Once every 4 weeks or so you’ll have to drag the unwieldy big vacuum out to do the corners and skirting boards. You need to roomba-proof your rooms, make sure he can’t suck up any cords.

On the other hand there are so many good things about Roomba that outweigh the not good. He is also quite short so he can clean under things you wouldn’t normally get to with your vacuum. Roomba is not cheap - in Australia you can generally pick one up for between $350-400. You can pick one up in the US from Best Buy for just under $190. Do you need one? That depends. How much is your time worth? Would your house be cleaner if you vacuumed it for an hour a day? Do you want to spend that kind of time vacuuming or would you like a robot to do it for you? Do you ever wish for a genie to do your housework for you?

I should mention, this is NOT a sponsored post, this is just me telling you about something I love. If and when I ever do write a sponsored post, I will make that VERY clear to ya’all.

I leave you with a lovely piece of music which was often played on Saturday housework mornings in the house I grew up in.