Learn the frustration of the spring cleaner who discovers the hiding place of pine needles that she thought she disposed of at the start of the year
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| Spring Cleaning |
| It's the middle of Spring and I am having a cleaning fit. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, baseboards beware. Ye shall be wiped clean. |
| "Unbelievable." |
| "What is?" |
| "Check this out," I say, and I pull the rug back a few feet. There, lying innocent but in wait, are at least a baker's dozen pine needles. |
| My husband chuckles. |
| "How do we miss so many every year?" |
| "I think they actually multiply." |
| Every year on New Year's Day, my family and I take down our Christmas tree. We carefully tuck away all of the ornaments, multi-colored balls, strings of lights, and wreaths. We take the tree out, and then diligently vacuum every square inch of floor before putting the furniture back in its non-holiday place. And every year, this. |
| "Aaargh," I say, and I attack the offending pine needles with the vacuum cleaner. "Why don't we get an artificial tree this year?" |
| "Yeah…no," my husband says. |
| "I'm serious. No more pine needle stowaways." I vacuum violently farther under the rug, peek beneath it once more for good measure, and then lay it back down. |
| David laughs again and turns back to the Newsweek he was reading. |
| It's only in the spring that I am totally serious about buying an artificial tree, one with the lights already in place and realistic needles. My husband argues that we will miss the pine smell, and I argue back that they make air fresheners for that. But when the day after Thanksgiving rolls around again, I am eyeing the trees in the Christmas tree lots and measuring the height of the ceiling once again. |
| Spring cleaning, here I come. |
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