Spring Cleaning

I'm too wimpy to go out in the cloudy cold to work. The weeds can just wait. The trees can wait. The daikon can freeze in the ground for all I care right now. We are still eating o-mochi and dried persimmons.

It makes sense to do "spring cleaning" at the beginning of the year- after all, it is a new year, a renewal of our wishes and thoughts, a fresh start to another twelve months. My husband lost his cell phone - again - and the hunt for the elusive device set off my spring cleaning frenzy part IV.

I was actually angry that he lost it. It must be a genetic thing. My son did the same. I waited for him to tear the house apart for 3 hours before I got up, walked to his room, found the old pants he'd been wearing, reached in the pocket and sure enough, found the phone. Meanwhile, my daughter lost the stylus for her handheld screen, so I lifted the seat cushion on the big blue chair and reached my hands between the cracks...and I found: one mechanical pencil, one ballpoint pen, eye covers, bookmark, a paper punch, a pendant,some paperclips and a lot of crumbs from days gone by. I was curious about how much a seat could hold, so I started to clean our little car: one Visa credit card, a handful of loose change, two new spark plugs, a packet of prescription medication that someone never took, pencils, pens, screws, key ring, unidentified key not on the ring, scrunchies, ...

I fixed up the guest room as my office and no-snore sleeping zone. I burned all the (obsolete) home schooling lesson plans and lots of old papers. The storage room is organized and the loft is neat. What's next?