Because all the crazy-making busy-ness I mentioned a couple of posts ago was stressing me out, I took yesterday off – just to clean the house. Between work, soccer games, and business travel, there is never enough time to decently clean our house. Marcel used to keep it in pretty good shape when he was in university, but he’s been working almost full time, plus he’s dealing with his dad’s health and trying to be a support to them as much as possible.
I didn’t go near a computer all day and just spent the day playing Suzie-homemaker. I cranked up some good music (have you heard U2’s new album? Amazing!), and cleaned like a fiend – the kind of deep cleaning that my house only seems to get once a year or so. You know the kind – when you haul out the old toothbrush and bathtub caulking? Yeah, I know – I’m as shocked as you are that I am actually even CAPABLE of that kind of cleaning – but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.
But it wasn’t all cleaning – we bought new couches a few weeks ago, so I had to spiffy up the living room a bit to go with the couches. Throw in a little decorating with the cleaning and you’ve made me a happy girl. New cushion covers, some drapery accents, a few new candles, re-arranged furniture… aaahhh… it all looks so puurrrdy now!
And in other news… I was awarded as a runner-up in the World Association of Christian Communicators annual photo contest for this photo from Bangladesh (they were looking for photos that had a different take on gender roles). And a few weeks ago, I was contacted by the Wall Street Journal about another photo they wanted to use (unfortunately, I was away when they sent the note, so when I finally got back to them, they’d found another photo).