Spring Cleaning

Like a breath of fresh air, open the windows and doors and let the sunshine in!  It was a very long, long winter and if you are like me, you have been dying to get outside and get your hands dirty!  Today was fantastic!  I got to play in the yard and cut back the grasses, clean the beds, and put out the lawn furniture where it awaits good conversations, barbeque laden plates, and glasses of iced tea.  

After the grey days of winter, nothing is more exciting than the sight of tulips breaking through the earth, the buds on the trees readying to burst, and the grass turning greener and greener by the hour.  As I was stuffing the yard bags and dragging debris to the composter, I got to thinking when or where did the practice of spring cleaning come from?  So I did some research.

It turns out that much of it has roots in religion, specifically Passover.  Traditionally, Jewish families clean their houses in preparation for Passover, specifically to rid the house of crumbs made from leavened bread, which is forbidden during the holy days.  

Non-religiously speaking, it's a way of clearing out the old to clean and freshen the things that you decide to keep.  It is a great way to not only air out the house, but clean, arrange the furniture in a new way, polish floors, and clear out the cobwebs and dust.

I once was given a book as a gift called "Clearing Your Clutter with Feng Shui".  It explained how to get rid of items and "stuff" you don't use anymore.  The lesson that enlightened me most was if there were boxes that I hadn't opened in six months, I should just throw them away... don't look in them, just toss them!  The idea being, if you haven't used them in that time, you never will.  So I did it!  I never felt freer or lighter... that was until five months later, when I was missing my expensive badger faux finishing paint brush... and then it didn't seem like such a great idea.  The lesson from this?  Peek inside and THEN throw it away... it still feels really good!

So whatever your beliefs or preferences, welcome spring!  I look forward to sitting outside among your blooms and drinking in your fragrance or sitting inside my clean house with the doors and windows