Spring cleaning

So I started a list. Paint the living room, finish the kitchen remodel we started two years ago, paint my bedroom, clean the carpets, wash the storm windows, clean the garage and the basement, wallpaper the bathroom and add a deck.

Oh, and get it all done before graduation in about six weeks.

I was looking at Web sites that give tips about the best ways to spring clean. Some suggestions included things like throwing out stuff you haven't used in two years, broken appliances, toys and clothes of the kids who moved out five years ago and making lists.

The best tip I saw was to hire a cleaning service. I think that is the one I want to go with. That way if something of my husband's gets thrown away I won't be responsible.

If those boxes stacked by the kids in the basement of things they still want but haven't looked for in five years get tossed, it won't be my fault.

When that favorite chair of the dog is put out by the curb, I can point toward the cleaning people.

Now, I love my husband very much but he is a clutter bug. He doesn't throw much away and when he does it is usually under duress. For several years now, I have been quietly tossing his socks with holes into the bottom of the trashcan.

He has a leather coat he bought in Germany at least 35 years ago that he still tries to wear. I've been trying to figure out a way to get it removed from the house without him noticing. I wonder how much I can actually blame on the "cleaning people?"

Then there are the Bob Dylan, Bob Marley and various athletic posters in the basement game room that really need to go. Maybe those can wait until our son leaves for college in the fall.

Of course, my daughter still tells people about how we moved when she left for school and didn't give her our address for a month--just enough time to get rid of those boy band posters from the 90's.

She paid us back though. She got a kitten just before she left for school and that cat still lives with us today.

I don't think I want to take a chance on getting another kitten when my son leaves so we'll leave those posters up for awhile. Instead, I think I'll just concentrate on the leather coat.

I know my husband won't leave a kitten behind. And, chances are he won't leave home either--he has too much stuff to move.