Spring Cleaning

So the past few weeks (OK, months) my strict cleaning and tidying habits have completely gone out the window. I used to perform a good cleaning about once a week, but who knows where that ambition went. I don't think the kitchen table has been completely cleared since I had some friends over for a holiday party in December. Magazines, stacks of papers, shoes scattered in the entry have caused tripping hazards, meals in the living room because there are no spots at the table, and lost documents for far too long now. This morning I woke up with some gumption, and I went with it.
I started with the coffee table. Somehow this 2x4 ft piece of wood gathered enough clutter to be stacked about 4 inches high in some areas. Avalanche warnings might have been in effect if this had gone on any longer.
Then dusting. I like dusting. Weird, yes, but I don't mind it. I use those swiffer dusters that gather all the yucky stuff and then you throw it out! Genius! So that went quick...
Vacuuming. We have two dogs. We should have been a bit more selective when picking out Izzy and Hondo from the Humane Society, but after seeing them with their sad eyes and instant connection with us, there was no other choosing to be done. Izzy sheds, but Hondo seems to molt. His wirey white hairs seems to get stuck to everything. And if something is white, his black hairs somehow have navigation to cling to it's surface. And I can't stand the dog hair. I have tried tons of mits, lint rollers, yada yada to rid us of the hair. I love that our new couch is leather - I can just brush it off!! So back to vacuuming. Justin got me a nice vacuum after the last one went kaput. It was a nice gift, I wasn't even offended. So it's a pretty nice vacuum, specific for dog hair. Today it just didn't seem to be doing the job. I turned the setting from medium pile to shag. Still nothing. It wasn't even picking up the little pieces of dried leafs that had fallen off my plant that I killed. (No surprise there.) I checked the filter, the collection canister, tubing. Nothing. So I turned it over on it's side for inspection. I was MORTIFIED. I can no longer get mad at the dogs for shedding as that would make me quite the hypocrit. There was enough hair wrapped in the bottom to donate to locks for love to give a little girl with leukemia a cute little bob. So I cut and pulled it all out. Second attempt - success. I could not believe how much it pulled up. Not sure if I should really be sharing this, but I emptied the canister twice after putting the vacuum back into the closet. I'm never letting that happen again! Good news is the carpet looks pretty nice.
So the next hurdle was the kitchen table. Stacks of mail from new health coverage at the hospital, student loan info, my PT magazines, and yes, still Christmas cards. I sorted it all into groups, purged all that wasn't important into the recycling, but then I seemed to loose steam at this point. The kitchen table is still covered, but in neat stacks of papers, magazines, and books that I'm sure will only take a few moments to really finish. Maybe tomorrow... but that was reserved for laundry. Laundry I don't mind - it's the putting it away. Hmm, do we see a pattern here??