Mom cleaning

Some people engage in spring cleaning. The Jewish people go through a process of deep cleaning in preparation for Passover. I am an adopter of "mom cleaning".

What is "mom cleaning?" It is my feeble attempt to thoroughly clean my house before my mom visits. I have already been cleaning for a month, and my mom doesn't arrive for 10 more days. I walk through my house, imagining what she would see that needed to be cleaned once she arrived. The first several times my mom came to visit out here she spent a good portion of her time cleaning things that I didn't really consider vital at that moment: light fixtures, air ducts, the thing under my fridge. Oh, I would clean them when I would notice them, but apparently not often enough. And my mom is a kind go-getter. When she gets in one of her cleaning whirlwinds we call her Edna after her grandmother that often had to be busy, too (and she lived to 96 in good health, so I guess it's not a bad thing). She won't comment that my vents need to be cleaned. She'll just find a screwdriver and the vacuum and go to it.

So her last couple visits I have done my best to preempt her. Alas, with two small children its hard to stay on top of the laundry and dishes, let alone to take down all my light fixtures and wash them. Yet I feel compelled to clean as much as possible. Its my way of saying "I love you." Every time I talk to her on the phone I let her know I'm cleaning in preparation. When we get ready to visit in December, she'll do the same (although I NEVER go around cleaning random areas of her house, but maybe...)

So in the spring time when the urge to clean my windows hits, it usually passes before I get the chance to knock much off my list. But rest assured when mom comes to town I'll do my best to rid the home of every last dust bunny.