Rx for stress: Spring Cleaning and a little Earth, Wind and Fire

   
     The weather here has been magnificent lately. Warm. Sunny. It's Spring, and I'm into the spring cleaning thing in full blown overdrive. But not so much because of the incredible weather. I have come to know, first hand, that serious cleaning is a great stress reliever. I don't mean things like washing dishes. Oh no, all that does it make me think more about what ever is worrying me.
     And the past few weeks have been spent worrying and fretting, on the phone or at lawyers offices, figuring out a creative budget (or lack there of) and looking down a road that I don't really have a clue as to where it leads.
So.
Back to spring cleaning. Heavy duty cleaning. Clean a room and mean it cleaning. The crank-up-some-vintage-Earth, -Wind-and-Fire-and-break-a-sweat-moving-the-furniture-to- vacuum,-strip-the beds-and-scrub-the-bathtub kind of cleaning.
     I tackled all of the hardwood floors last night after work, and it was a long process. I got inspired by Amy a while back, to use her method. She got the idea from Cheryl Mendelson's Home Comforts book. It's a slow process, and my back aches, but...dang! The floors look good. Better than good. They look fabulous, in an understated kind of way. And my mood is much improved, thankyouverymuch.
     It's amazing to me- the satisfaction I can feel from doing a simple task like scrubbing my floors. I am so thankful and happy to have my beautiful hardwood floors.  They are one of my most favorite things in my cottage. While I was done there on all fours, I had time to ponder (while singing at the top of my lungs, "She's a brick house, she's mighty, mighty, just lettin' it all hang out...") just how very many blessings I have. Of course my kids, my parents, my friends...but even the small stuff..like the fact that I found this house, this wonderful cottage home that was clearly meant especially for me. (Why else would it have had a room behind the garage with a large sized doggie door, just the perfect size for the Junior bed Bear likes to sleep on when it's cold outside during the day? Hmm? )
     The fact that this perfect-for-me cottage home had a giant walk in closet for all those shoes, even though homes built in the 60's usually had no such thing...that's a blessing, a gift to me, plain and simple. Having an Earth, Wind and Fire CD to blast as I clean? Well...priceless.
    By the time I had finished cleaning the floors I was feeling so humble and happy and so...content. And, I will now leave the worrying to the big guy upstairs.