Leaving Clean Trails

All around Austin, people are sleeping. They have been asleep for hours.

As usual, I have not. I have been cleaning my apartment. I am moving out, and everything's gone. The thing to do -- the last thing you do whenever you leave a place -- is to clean it. My mom taught me to leave a place cleaner than when you found it. I know that's a phrase a lot of people use, and perhaps it's because lots of moms teach it. In my case, it was definitely true. In fact, when my mom was helping me clean this afternoon, she said, "Do you want me to clean the oven?" Seriously? Who cleans ovens when they leave an apartment?

So I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned today. When the vacuum broke, I did what any Snow woman would do, and I fixed it so I could keep cleaning. I dusted my windowsill; I spackled the holes in the walls; and I swept the fireplace.

It's a nice principle -- to leave clean things behind. But it's exhausting. I'm tired, and I think I'm getting sick. I can't quit thinking, though, about the things I haven't gotten to yet, such as sanding and painting the spackle; doing a final vacuum all over so the carpet vacuum pattern is the same in every room; calling management to request minor repairs; cleaning the refrigerator; dusting all the floorboards . . . There's just not enough time. Thank goodness; if it weren't for time limitations, I think my obsessive cleaning would take over my life. :/


(Incidentally, why does packing and moving always seem to happen at night? Is it just my family who does it that way? Or do you? I really want answers to this question, so leave comments!)



Thing I'm thankful for: Outback salmon and broccoli