Friday Five

1. What housekeeping chore(s) do you hate doing the most?

Mopping. It always seems that as soon as I mop I have to urgently go through the mopped area, usually after I have to get something out of the yard. Then I have to do it again.

2. Are there any that you like or don't mind doing?

Once I get into it, washing dishes is fun. I like playing in the water. Otherwise I like filing books and records. I get into the taxonomy of it and it can be a very enjoyable task, especially when I decide to re-classify something, for instance, to group our CD library by nationality as opposed to by chronology. Sometimes I will re-classify in order to take subtle and not-so-subtle digs at an artist or writer: take that Ambrose Bierce, I am moving you from California literature to American Literature! That will teach you to not leave the Golden State! Ha HA HA! Look at Emerson, hanging out with the hippies!!! Emerson is a hippy! Emerson is a hippy! Hanging out next to Leary! Hippy, hippy, hippy!

Melanie gets particularly annoyed at my various schemes at taxonomy because she will often just get used to one system, and I'll get the bug in my ear to change it around and invent a new one. She also gets annoyed when I file the Indigent Girls in some section that is clearly intended as an insult, for instance the Entartete Kultur section.

3. Do you have a routine throughout the week or just clean as it's needed?

Theoretically as needed.

4. Do you have any odd cleaning/housekeeping quirks or rules?

I like to wash a dish completely, rinse it, dry it and put it away before starting the next piece. Drives everyone crazy, but it is the proper way to do it, as it avoids unsightly water marks and reduces the risk of breakage, since there is no longer an area full of wet glasses just waiting to be knocked over.

5. What was the last thing you cleaned?

Espresso machine. It needed it.

Posted by erik at September 5, 2003 12:17 PM | TrackBack