Housework never ends
By Kay James, Kay's Comments
"Women’s work is never done," is a old adage that has been around for a long time, but in this modern age, I think it should be changed to housework is never done. Both men and women do housework these days, what was formerly considered women’s work. Too many of us live alone and have no one to share the misery with. At least I consider housework a miserable task, precisely because it is never done. Right now, my small vacuum cleaner is setting in the living room. It’s been there for a couple of weeks while I cleaned the entire house. I finished this weekend, a month after I started. My mother used to say that if the vacuum were out when you had company, at least visitors would think you were working on the mess. That is better than a mess with no evidence of trying. However, the vacuum is still out because although I did the kitchen including mopping the floor and washing the throw rugs, it needs another vacuuming and already has spots on the floor. I cannot cook without making a mess. I am not one of those cooks who uses every pot and pan in the cupboard when I cook, but I am sloppy. This weekend I fixed a ham with glaze. Thinking a bowl would be easier cleanup than heating the glaze in a pan on the stove, I put it in the microwave. It boiled over. I had to clean the microwave again. By the time I get the dishwasher filled and running a load, I already have more dirty dishes to put in it. The dishwasher rarely stands empty unless I’m on vacation away from home. I had the office nice and neat -- which is a major accomplishment for me. Then I had to dig out a coupon, was already late when I started to look for it and left the pile of coupons and other correspondence piled on the desk. More bills came this past week, so they added to the pile, which I will have to sort through again. Keeping a bedroom neat and tidy is not so hard, except for dusting and cobwebs. I vacuumed my bedroom last week, and this week it had a big cobweb by the heat register. In years past when my mother would visit, no matter how much I cleaned, she would always find a cobweb somewhere in the room and point it out. I think the spiders knew she was coming and gave her something to find. I religiously make my bed every morning, and clothes are hung up or put in drawers after laundry or in a basket if worn. However, I have the bad habit of leaving shoes laying in the middle of the floor. Having tripped over them often enough, I should know better than to leave them laying there. I haven’t. A regular task on weekends is to pick up shoes and put them in the closets. My closets are typically not too neat. I think people can be divided into two classes: Those whose cupboards and closets are neat and orderly, but the rest of the house is cluttered and not so neat; and those whose cupboards and closets are disorganized, but the rest of the house is neat without much clutter. I’ve known people whose houses were cluttered with stuff, but if you opened a cupboard or closet everything was in neat, orderly rows. My closets, desk drawers and cupboards are not well organized -- actually they probably can’t be called organized. I stuff everything into closets and cupboards with the result that sometimes if you open one item falls, a proverbial Fibber McGee’s closet. During this fall cleaning spree, I have even been cleaning the closets, somewhat. They remain crowded, but I did part with a few items, such as bundling up the four years of newspapers from the office closet and taking them to be recycled. Newspaper editors and reporters hate to part with the printed word. This weekend I got through half of my clothes closet. With winter approaching, I needed my warmer clothes and some summer clothes have not been worn for a couple of years. They went into a bag for St. Vincent de Paul. I used to zip through housework in a few hours. I have slowed down and it takes much longer. My sister and I compared notes on this recently since she’s having the same problem, and we decided that, although we hate to admit it, we are getting old. Taking more time makes seems to make housework even more continuous. Now, the house looks better, but I have not reached the end of the list. The garage needs cleaning, which is a never ending task, and I do not even want to think about cleaning the basement. You can always add more to a list of housekeeping tasks. Then you start over. Kay Lapp James is editor of the Wisconsin Dells Events. Contact her at wde-editorial@capitalnewspapers.com or phone (608) 254-8327, ext. 3567.