Spring cleaning hurts

Mr B and Madeleine and I spent the weekend in a frenzy of spring cleaning and organising. We sorted through bags and boxes, hunted under beds and on top of cupboards, and moved furniture around like there was no tomorrow. By Saturday night, our house was a dust-ball infested mess on the inside and, outside, it looked like something out of Hoarders, with rubbish and old furniture and dead-looking carpets piled up under the verandah, ready for the rubbish collection.

It wasn’t always easy, letting go of things. In fact I think we let go of a few too many precious and sentimental things in our (ok my) desire to be tidy (we are both VERY sentimental), and Mr B and I slumped into Saturday night in a kind of daze, slowly taking stock of what we had done and giving in to a few regrets, filling the hole we had created with bad food that generated even more regrets later.

I got up early on Sunday and started cleaning up the mess we had made, then Mr B and Madeleine appeared and Madeleine was so adorably chubby-cheeked and full of smiles that we said “Forgeddaboudit!” and left the mess to head to the shops. (Because what better remedy is there for having thrown out all your old things than BUYING NEW STUFF)?

All in all we were pretty restrained, but we did buy an Ergo carrier for Madeleine after reading all the helpful comments on this post I wrote for iVillage, and already I love it. I carried her around the shops with me for the next two hours and she felt safe and secure (she fell asleep), and my back didn’t hurt one bit. In fact it felt like I was pregnant again, without the carpal tunnel syndrome and pinched nerve, and I got all teary-eyed which was embarrassing because the lady in the food court thought I was crying over the milkshake she had made.

The Ergo put Madeleine in THE BEST mood for the afternoon, which is normally her grumpy time, so she and her dad read books together while I finished up the cleaning (that sounds like he is rather sexist but actually I requested this role, it just felt so good to be able to get things done), and we finally hit the hay last night in a sparkly clean house and much more at peace.

A few things that survived the cull:

The snow-globe I had made of our house in Sydney My books Madeleine’s books Oliver Ruby The antique ship’s compass I gave to Mr B when we lived on opposite sides of the world (so he could always find me)

If you happen past my place in the next couple of days, just don’t judge me for the overflowing bins and green garbage bags and broken furniture out front, aaight?