December 13, 2013

As soon as I finish grading

I’m looking forward to cleaning my house. Really. That’s what I’m thinking about while I’m reading student portfolios, grading papers, and going through my end-of-semester to-do list. I can’t wait to toss away stacks of junk, clear off the top of my desk, and get rid of all the clutter that has piled up over the last fifteen weeks.

Fall semester is busy for all of us, and that means the house just gets messier and messier. I’ve had academic colleagues say that they just lower their standards during the end-of-semester craziness, but let’s face it, our standards are already pretty low.

Last week, when Boy-in-Black came home for day to hang out with With-a-Why, he cleaned the kitchen. It was great to come home and see all the counters clean. “Thanks,” I said to him gratefully. “Things had really gotten out-of-hand.”

“It was kind of creepy,” he said. “Toast in the toaster that was made and never eaten. Partly filled cups on the counter. Like the lost colony of Roanoke.”

8 comments:

YourFireAnt said...

Like Pompeii after the explosion. ;-)

Friko said...

Toast in the toaster never eaten?
How is that possible?
Partly filled cups?

I can understand the lowering of standards during busy times but when I make food I make it because I’m hungry and nothing, absolutely nothing, gets between me and my need to satisfy that hunger.

Happy cleaning!

readersguide said...

Heh. (My house, too.)

jo(e) said...

Friko: It's because we're all always in a hurry, especially in the morning. I'll start making breakfast and then my son and I will decide to drive to campus together, which means we need to leave right away because his class starts at 8 am, and I'll leave without eating the breakfast I started making. The first thing I do when I get to campus, of course, is go to the cafe and buy juice and a bagel.

Anonymous said...

I love that biker boy said it's like the list colony of Roanoke!! That is great

Janice said...

When I'm buried in marking, I take cleaning breaks. So far today I've changed sheets, dealt with three loads of laundry and scrubbed the sink with baking soda (stovetop, too).

It's a dent in the chaos which helps with my mental state as I face down the mountain of exam booklets!

jo(e) said...

Janice: I need to do more cleaning as a procrastination method. It's really the only time cleaning seems really appealing to me.

Michelle said...

Oh, this is what I have visions of instead of sugar plums! To find the top of my desk, to find the floor of my office...

I enjoyed the image of the kitchen as the lost colony. Yes, we've been known to have toast in the toaster and tea left brewing on the counter for more than one day.