Creative Cleaning

"Any activity becomes creative when the 

doer cares about doing it right or better."  

John Updike

We're hosting a small dinner party on Sunday so I'm putting the craft supplies away and cleaning my house....well the main floor anyway. I generally need a party to motivate me to dust...but when I do...I enjoy interacting with my my stuff.  I enjoy my art and my collections...because like I keep saying...they bring me joy.

I was dusting the shelf on the side of a library table (my puzzle table) in the living room where I keep some children's games, puzzles, and books...and I paused to go through my collection of ABC books. It shifted my attitude.

Here are a few pages from the sweet  Little Bird's ABC book.

Then...this afternoon I had a great conversation with my mother-in-law.  Not only did Margie share the quote at the top of this post...but she had a couple of great cleaning stories...and I love a good story. While cleaning she would tell herself that she could only keep the things she touched and took care of....wow, I love that! And I laughed out lout when I heard her second story. To keep her moving along and focused when Margie cleaned she used to tell herself that Doris, her mother-in-law, was on her way for a visit and was at Johnson's Corner....about 15 minutes away.  If you knew Doris...you would understand the reason to hurry it up and do it right. Doris was...to put it kindly...fastidious....she literally used comb the fringe on her oriental rugs every night before she went to bed.  I'm not kidding...I witnessed it more than once.

Thanks for the great stories Margie! I enjoyed creatively taking care of my house today.