check the calendar

Hi,
it is Thursday, February 17, 2011, 2:51pm... I want you take note of this because I just finished sweeping out the garage and washing my car by hand. Yes, I washed my car, wearing a t-shirt & sweat pants (me, not the car), outside, on a bright, sunny, 65­° day... in mid-February!­ I find this totally amazing because just a few weeks ago we were getting buried in snow & sleet. As a matter of fact there is still a ton of snow on our lawn, piled up along the driveway and every where else you might think to see life. Peeking out from a soggy patch by the mail box are miniature hyacinth making an early appearance. I am sure winter is not over, not by a long shot, but it is so encouraging to see a hint of spring in February. It gives me hope.

Since it is so beautiful out I thought I'd get a head start on the spring clean up. It is a lot of work to keep up with this place. It's amazing what builds up after only a few months. The garage had 2 dead mice (blech!) and more leaves then we own that must have blown in from the entire neighbourhood of trees. Salt, soot, sand, dirt.... we have a grime magnet in the place. This was my first pass through since last October. In another month or so I want to haul everything out of the garage and power wash the floor. Call me crazy, but I feel better when it's not so filthy in the garage. When it's dusty & dirty I think it all gets tracked into the house. If I could, I'd put a big bubble over our property. We may live in suburbia, but the dirt & grime are just as prolific here as it was when I lived right on the main drag in Toronto. I don't even have a bus or streetcar to blame, but a lot of trucks pass our house on a regular basis.... maybe it's all the deer traffic?

My little Honda is happy now. It drives better when it's clean and boy, was it dirty! I couldn't stand it one more day. The Husky power washer is my favorite toy (next to my Dyson vacuum cleaner... do you see a trend here?) I schlepped out the power washer and doused my car, blasting all the schmutz* away. Inside & out I have a sparkling vehicle that will get an extra 4 miles per gallon... okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration but I think there is less drag with less dirt and it's my feeling about a clean car that it goes faster when it's shiny. Zoom, zoom.....

I am all cleaned-out for the day but it feels good to have accomplished some spring cleaning jobs in February. Tomorrow I may tackle the windows.....

xox
m

*schmutz-one of the best Yiddish (Jewish) words to describe anything really dirty