Where Do We Go From Here?

Have you ever wondered where dust comes from? I have recently considered the possibility of moving to a foreign country where housekeepers are cheap and a clean home is not a priority to anyone. Windows remain open and there is a permanent layer of dust/dirt/sand on the floor of these citizen's homes. This is considered normal. We like to keep things organized in our home. For the most part, there is a place for everything and everyone in my family knows to put things in their rightful place. But, what about getting those cookie crumbs, whenever you decide to live a little, and allow your kid to walk around with food in his hand? What about the cobwebs in the corners and dirt from muddy shoes? Don't even get me started on the hair in the bathroom that gets tracked on socks and spread all over the carpeted areas of the house!

If only there was a device designed to suck up dirt while it self-propels around your house automatically :p Anyway, if it does exist, it is not within MY budget. So, I am stuck scheduling a weekend where I set aside endless hours to vacuum, dust, clean floors, and (if I am lucky) clean the mirrors. This can be quite the chore when there is a mirror in every room of the house! At what point would my son be old enough to clean mirrors effectively but not too young that some might call it child labour?

Alright, enough about that depressing topic. The other thing I wanted to mention, besides the countless hours we spend on housekeeping, is the amount of energy it takes! I swear, on the coldest winter day, I can break into a head-to-toe sweat because the vacuum is so darn heavy. Then, there is the back and forth repetiveness of the motions of housework. I am surprised more domestic engineers don't end up on disability or at the physiotherapist's clinic. Actually, if memory serves, I think I did have an aunt who had complained about shoulder pain or tennis elbow from house cleaning...so, it does happen! I had another aunt tell me that she read housework is not considered exercise. You tell me another activity that increases your heartrate, keeps you moving for hours, works every muscle in your body, and has you sweating within minutes!

She called BS on that, and, as an adult, I do too. It makes me wonder if the people who made this claim were stuffy office-type bread winners who had never done a day of housework in their life. Did they visualize a French maid walking around with a feather duster and automatically deem that housework is not considered exercise? Or did they actually witness someone cleaning their house to perfection and then deem it to be not valid? Here is the latest Google result from 2015:

"While housework may get our heart rates up, questions about the type of work and intensity level can be raised. A study conducted at the University of Ulster analyzed 4,600 adults and found that of the 43% who stated they met recommended activity levels, 36% of them counted housework as their exercise."

Wow. Far be it from me to question the study conducted by the University of Ulster! Where?I just have no comment about that. Enough said. Clean your house. Keep your windows shut. No, the wind will not blow the dust off of your shelves. In fact, it will do the opposite. Check your bed for mites and keep on keeping on. Don't forget to work in your regular exercise routine too, cuz, you know, housework is not considered exercise. I can't believe that it is viewed the same way it was 30 years ago. Nothing has changed. Homemakers, housewifes, domestic engineers, whatever you want to call the people who do the house maintenance (I am going to go out on a limb and claim that it is mostly women), we will never be appreciated for the work we do. But, let's hope that all this effort will give us the beach bodies we are dreaming of!

I'll leave you with my parting tip for vacuuming rugs in your house. When are done steping on the rug and performing your most awkward Ice Capades routine, make sure you to vacuum AROUND the rug again, as the dirt that comes off the rug seems to fly off and end up behind or beside the rug. So, to recap, vacuum the rug, THEN the area around the rug. Saves time, if you feel you've had to vacuum twice in the past. Just something that I noted, one homemaker to another.

What makes a house a home? Cleanliness! I was very disappointed in myself for not keeping on top of it during this whole pandemic. What else did I have to do? I could have lost 30 lbs by now! But, I suppose the motivation wasn't there. Mental health playing a part as well. Who wants to clean when there is a pandemic that could kill us any day?!

Random nothingness to leave you with (for real this time). Words to remeber from 2020:

Pandemic - most popular word in 2020

Front-line Worker

Lockdown

Herd Immunity

Anti-masker - disparaging term for a person who opposes wearing a face mask during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public health experts strongly recommend wearing masks to prevent and slow the spread of the disease.

Vaccinator - a medical practitioner who inoculates people against diseases

I am going to use this word for people who have been vaccinated! Sounds like the Terminator, right?

Anti-vacciner - a person who refuses to get the vaccine

Whatevs, simples, chillax, sumfin and Jafaican have all been added to the Oxford Dictionary for 2020. Good to know that people are still making up words that have nothing to do with what is going on with the world right now. Whatevs...