Spring Forward: Mindset!

By Liz on March 20, 2022

Last Sunday we did “Spring Forward” with clocks.

I struggled during the week … nothing to do with the time change.

My struggle was with distractions: Ukraine (WW III, nuclear disaster), COVID 4th wave, my endless list of house stuff, working on a task that is not much fun but has to be done … etc., etc.

And mostly, nothing (NO THING) was accomplished.

And I so dislike being unproductive as well as feeling “stuck”

BUT.

Spring.

Spring cleaning!!

I will add the link at the end of this post, but I happened on a youTube channel about cleaning (house). “Angela Brown Cleaning” is the channel. Angela is so obviously adept and experienced and also enthusiastic … a professional cleaner, she had to pivot her business from actual cleaning to cleaning advisor (virtual) because of a horrendous personal situation. And HOLY COW! She stepped into the different realm of Internet and all – I don’t for a moment think it was easy. She has obviously worked as hard on her virtual presence as she did in her physical cleaning business.

For me, she is so darned enthusiastic as well as knowledgeable about current tools, products and methods that I got excited about cleaning :)

And it got me off my past week’s stagnation.

Yes, I cleaned … more in a bit.

But, I also paused and took notice of why I was feeling stuck.

I made a list. I asked for professional help for some of the items on my list. I have things set in motion to gather information that I need to make decisions. And I have a plan for the coming week: work, chores, fun with Emmett and Oscar, teaching Emmett and Oscar. As in the past, I find that a somewhat rigid schedule, helps me when I feel stuck and distracted by things that I have ZERO control over!

Ukraine – WWIII – Nuclear disaster. In a nutshell, it turns out that a nearby (150 miles as the missile flies) Air Force Base is home to a nuclear missile launch site and so a target. It is not a secret. I had never paid any attention. It was a bit eye opening, but as I spent some time researching about a nuclear attack … instead of focusing on surviving one, I thought about how things would look: animals, terrain, life… and came to the conclusion that if something happened as close as the AFB, I would rather go in the first strike vs seeing and living with the awful after affect. It might seem backwards thinking, but it gave me peace. I no longer focused on what will I do to live through this and came to a point of acceptance. It freed me up to let go of the fear.

COVID 4th wave. My primary issue with a potential 4th wave is not fear for myself. It is an incredible annoyance with the disregard for history: recent as well as 100 years ago. Recent: as COVID entered the US there was little notice and then SURPRISE!! no TP, etc. In the 1918-1919 Spanish Flu pandemic, after each wave there was relief and “letting down the guard”. The 4th wave was a surprise and a deadly one. Hmmm. And the pandemic itself came on the tail end of WWII when everyone was already “done” with rations and restrictions. Gosh. To me, it appears that we have learned exactly nothing from history.

YIKES – Might as well clean!! And get on with my life and enjoy … do the best I can for Emmett, Oscar and me while praying for the world and others.

After the window install and as I prepared for an intermediary decor whatever before changing out the kitchen trim … I noticed a LOT of grease on upper walls and cabinets. So… a bit of dish soap in warm water, a shot of steam from my new-ish Bissell “Shot of Steam” thing and I cleaned walls and upper cabinets.

The process went well and not a lot of time or effort at all!

After! It is hard to see from photos, but walls and cabinets look so much better. The valances are not finished … they are a kind of test of fabric folded and I need to cut and hem. But, they will be on tension rods, so nothing permanent. I hope to get the white trim replaced with “natural” fairly soon and then have no valances, but for now, the bit of fabric cuts the starkness of the white trim.

And in the living room … I saved one of the Roman blinds and reinstalled on the window behind the woodstove. That window “looks” into the bedroom, so this allows me to close that off at night and the shade softens the large window without restricting the outside view.