One of my favorite thing to read as a child (hell, I still love it), was the Little House series. It appealed to my inner history dork, I fully admit to identifying with the hot tempered, spitfire Laura and not matter how many times I read it (which was a LOT), I never ceased to be amazed at the things her family did that seemed perfectly normal to them.
Like spring cleaning. Now, spring cleaning in the 1880's was a little more necessary. When your sole source of heat is burning things, your house is going to get gross. There were no air purifiers, or filters, or any of the fun useful things we have today. One of my favorite scenes was Laura beating the rugs, and washing the sheets, which of course led to the idyllic image of sheets flapping in the prairie sun and wind. This often led to me doing odd things, like beating my bathmat on the clothesline, or hanging my sheets to dry. Of course, much like Laura Ingalls, I had little patience for anything, much less housework.
This hasn't changed much. But there is no way to describe what hit my house on Thursday other than a fit of spring induced cleaning. Thanks mainly to our friend Bobby, the house is borderline sparkling. Floors are swept/mopped/vacuumed. The vacuum was taken apart and cleaned. Baseboards and cabinets were scrubbed. Tops of high things were dusted. Trees were trimmed. Plants were planted. Grass was mowed. You name it, we did it. I rearranged the shelving in our closet, as it didn't really suit my style of organization.
It never bothered me that I didn't have much decoration in my apartment. I always viewed it as temporary, and it seemed silly. I hung a few pictures, but that was about it. Our rental house was somewhat decorated, but I was still limited by the standard rules of renting. Few holes, no paint. I love that house, and would have snapped it up in a heartbeat, had circumstances been different. We love our house, but injecting a house with our style on a VERY, almost non-existent budget is proving challenging. Several websites are fueling my jets right now though, including apartment therapy, and the newly discovered www.ikeahacker.blogspot.com. I think another Ikea trip will be in the works soon. Of course, it is making me want certain things which are forbidden to me. Like a jigsaw.
