Posse. It is Autumn. And I iz Anting.
Also, I’m having Be Like Tom Issues – got the targeted booster last week and it has kicked me right in my … joints. Seriously. It was an easy jab – and then it got ugly. Despite all my cardio, despite all my working out, despite all my spites, the booster did something wonky in me and got me right in the joints. No sniffling – at least nothing more than usual during Harvest – but sweatergawd! every joint I have got tender. And tired? Yeah – but not ‘omg I’m BEAT!’ tired, more…’I feel vaguely puny’..which, in a lot of ways, is worse. You’re not really sick, which means non-louche folks like me feel weird about just giving in. I did a gentle workout the day of, walked the short mile to get the jab, then back to the gym for upper-body (which helps move the vaccine out of the injection site)…
… I cannot imagine how I would’ve felt if I hadn’t done any of that.
But, Time and Tide and all that. I’m mostly back to normal so I can continue Anting . Which is what this post was supposed to be about, before I got sidetracked on the Whine about the booster.
So. Anting. March and I agree that Spring cleaning is overrated. After all, you’re going to be out of the house 90% more than you were in Winter and all the windows will be open, etc… so.. (insert shrug emoji). Autumn, however? Omg. I am a cleaning FOOL! Things I don’t want to look at, things I don’t want to do, once I close and lock all the windows and doors, preparing to turn inward for the next 3 (maybe 4) months. Painting. Ugh. The only thing I hate worse than prep/painting is the smell. Luckily now is the perfect time – it’s still warm enough to git ‘er done but not so warm that the damb paint never dries. I got all sorts of weird things done – like the headboard of my bed. It was an El O purchase and while I have no problem with the shape, that weird caramel, high-lacquer color just screamed at me, every time I saw it. So I hauled that dawg outside, prepped and sprayed it – whoever invented paint sprayers? I owe you a fruit basket. Problem with the headboard? I was so whupped from getting it OUT, etc…that I couldn’t muster enough strength to get it back in. Luckily my contractor was finishing up for the day across the street and saw me crawling across to beg for his assistance. He had that Much Younger Human smirk on him, when he saw the headboard out there – he’s about 6’4″, buffAF, etc, and I think he figured I was being a princess. Until he went to pick it up. “Wait. This is HEAVY! Um..Anita..how did you get it out here?” ‘I have NO idea – but I definitely cannot get it back in by myself~’ Smirk wiped off his young, buff face, we wrestled that dawg back into the house. I still cannot figure out how I got it out by myself – but it’s good to have mysteries in Life, I guess.. I then repaired and repainted the bathroom hutch but had the good sense to plastic wrap everything else and spray it IN PLACE!
fool me once…
Days and days of goofy stuff like that – until The Booster laid me low. But now that I’m back to norm (for me) I’m back to moving, hauling, sweeping, mopping,etc,etc.
What about you? Which season triggers Big Clean? I am a bit of a cleaning nut 365 but something about Autumn… that’s when I bring out the big guns! Tell me your tale and I’ll have M. Jacques poke a winner!
Ready to POKE!
Speaking of Winners, the winner of Casual Casualty: maggiecat!
gmail your evilauntieanitaAT , let me know what you won and M. Jacques will get it out to you asap!
I think you would have guessed by now that doing what I do will only lead to bad things. But I’m glad you weren’t completely flummoxed by the booster. I wasn’t but I had friends telling me horror stories. I was hoping to be able to take to my bed with cheetos and AMC but nooo…
Good on you for taking on these projects! I can barely bring myself to dust the place. I’ll scrub the toilets and the sinks like a mad thing but vacuuming and dusting? Ergh.. Don’t have enough money to hire someone and am one of those people who would have to make the place spotless before they came over lest they think I am some sort of pig monster. So I guess I should just tell myself there’s a cleaning person coming on Thursday so I will swiffer the books and the tchotchkes..
I think in some ways not having seasons that were so definite here works against me. I don’t take summer clothes up to the attic to sleep it off in their cedar-lined winter abode and certainly the screens never come off the windows to be replaced by the storm ones (days before triple-glazing.) The only real difference between January and sartorially is the subtraction or addition of sweaters.
We’re in the midst of a really vicious cold snap, Tom, so I’ll take LA for $400. 24F on the 18th of October is just WRONG.
xoxoxo
Ooof, I saw that on the news. Cold from Maine to Mississippi. I won’t tell you the temps here.
Haha over here moving furniture on sliders so I can clean behind/underneath in all the places I can’t regularly sweep and mop. I haven’t done the full clothing swap yet (it’s colder but not cold) so I’m in that weird, short period of time when everything is in piles around the bedroom or in the wash. I was giggling, it looks like the kids’ rooms did, all the time, clothes everywhere … so glad you painted your furniture, when there’s one detail like that you can fix, it’s so rewarding!
It is, isn’t it? That headboard.. it just feels like WINNING!
The fact that I cleaned and washed the walls behind the bed, etc, while I had the room torn apart doesn’t hurt, either.
It’s a balmy 24F here tonight.
xoxoxo
Big clean … end of winter. Get thee gone. Whole house needs airing and doing etc etc. I live near an estuary (ie, close enough to the seaside) and the world turns right again when I can open the windows and there’s that salt smell. Sigh. Autumn into winter is just living with dog fragrance and candle scents.
omgosh, yes. That Salt Smell.
So beautiful!
And yes. That Dog Smell. sigh. M. Jacques is a stinky 2yo. Very stinky. Even spayed, he reeks of Adolescent Dog.
sigh.
xoxoxo
Completely agree….I like to start fall/winter with a more organized cleaned out environment. I really need to get the windows washed….noticed the sun highlighting dusty windows the other day
Oh, yes. The windows. I spent an entire morning tackling the windows.
Sigh.
xoxo
Monsieur Jacques is so handsome but would immediately trigger Mr Jarvis Cocka-Poo. Since he was attacked by a black lab at 16wo he used attack as the best form of defence! Like being mugged by a mop was one comment.
I’m largely a member of the Quentin Crisp School of Cleaning. After 7 years, the dust doesn’t get any deeper. Unless I’m stressed the BAM knickers over tights time & I’m like a cleaning hurricane
Ah, the vaunted Quentin Crisp, one of the Stately Homos of England!
xoxo
and M. Jarvis… poor baby. I think he might actually LIKE M. Jacques!
xo
He was snogging his groomer’s chocolate Doberman yesterday but she’s a bit of a tart & flirts with handsome males both canine & human.
I tend to clean more when the weather is cooler. Usually I try to maintain things and keep everything organized as I go along. It’s easier.
Me, too – but this was Big Ticket cleaning, moving large pieces of furniture, etc. Stuff I am disinclined to do on a weekly/monthly basis. I won’t be doing it again until January.
xoxo
I normally do a big clean in the month of January leading up to Chinese New Year since it’s supposed to be lucky. My high school friend and I cheer each other on as we do daily cleaning and organizational tasks. But I’m always up for some Marie Kondo-ing or decluttering. Painting is a beast of a task. I have to stop while I still have energy to clean up, which takes forever!
That January clean sounds like just the ticket for midwinter!!!
I hate painting like a mongoose hates a snake – probably because I never really prep for it. Alas.
xoxoxo
Ooh! I won! Yay!
I am also a Fall Cleaning believer and will commence as soon as I get home from 6 days in the RV in San Antonio, probably our last biggish trip before the weather gets iffy. Cleaning in fall makes holiday prep easier and I’m all for that.
BTW, this years flu shot knocked me out, so I can only imagine what the Covid booster will do when I get ’round to it.
Just… watch your joints. Seems I’m not the only one who got sideswiped by the booster. My joints are mostly back to normal but I have some swelling in my right knee that wasn’t there pre-booster.
sigh.
xoxo
I’m always so happy to see M. Jacques. So handsome! I was planning on getting the booster, then traveled to Canada to visit my Mom and was stuck in Toronto airport two days long story but ended up with Covid two days later. Ugg. Stayed healthy all along until I ventured to travel. I’m glad you’re feeling better. Makes complete sense to big clean in the autumn. I tend to be a cleaning nut at random times of the year I guess when feeling inspired or stressed. You have some power moving furniture by yourself! xoxo
Moving that headboard is still one of Life’s Mysteries. I shouldn’t have been able to do it.
M. Jacques is handsome. Cross-eyed as anything. But handsome.
YIKES! on the Covid !!! Glad you’re better. My right knee is swollen, which seems to have been from this targeted booster. No real pain – just…. swollen.
ugh.
xoxoxo
Same for me, I want to clean in the fall so I don’t have to look at the clutter all winter! I am going to have to do some painting next spring though, as I just bought a new apartment and don’t have the $ to pay someone else to paint it. It will be an experience. 🙂
Babysnakes – the only advice I can give you is: prep like a lima bean. PREP. Scrape/sand/tape/etc…
Painting is a relative breeze…IF you do all the prep.
If not (cue Jaws music)
xoxoxo