Another Nesting Solution: Cleaning

This is one way to get the crazy obsessive mania of pregnancy under control - clean.

Whatever motivates you to clean (a friend coming over or just a bit of stray bbq sauce in the wrong place) should be used. Then break out the products and implements.


My personal favorite all purpose cleaner is Simple Green. I was introduced to the stuff by my print-making professor at Bard. It does amazing stuff. You can fiddle with the concentration to make it as strong or weak as you need. It cleans just about everything and does it well. The nice thing is it is also non-toxic. While it is a cleaner and does have fumes, it's not noxious like so many cleaning products out there.

So I took my Simple Green and my microfiber cloths and went to town.

Then I moved on to dusting. While Simple Green might work well for things like tile or counters, it's not ideal for wood. There's something that should be said for a nice lemony polish. I'll be honest - I'm not brand loyal on this one. I get the cheapest generic stuff and use that (though I've heard there are some homemade options that substitute quite nicely - I'm lazy). I use this not only for wood surfaces, but also my leather couches. I *hate* dirty leather. With all the different textures that are fashionable these days, it's a good idea to keep up your leather polish routine.

I think I just heard your jaw unhinge.

I know what you're thinking - who is this person excited about domestic tasks? Where did the hipster writer chick go who used to brood about her starving artistry? Sorry, but I've always been this way. I just hide it well (thanks to the internet). My college friends can attest to the tidiness of my room, and how I would apologize if a pair of pants was out (This somehow made my room "messy.").

My 1st trimester was actually torturous because I didn't have the energy to maintain a clean and tidy apartment. Christian can vouch for the whining and regular pouting that ensued.

You can imagine the GLORY that shone down on our apartment when I got my energy back. I've been cleaning several times weekly (which is actually more often than pre-pregnancy). I don't always clean the whole apartment, but I do clean portions of it - whatever I find offensive at the time. Today was a whole other story however.

Once I'd moved past dusting and rearranging things, I vacuumed and mopped. I cleaned the bathroom (not the tub as it's a little harder with fumes and balance these days). I cleaned fixtures. I even vacuumed our bathroom fan (we have a Dyson - the best vacuum I've ever used and if you value your floors and have the cash, I really recommend them.). I revealed surfaces that had not seen sunlight for over 4 months!

Christian came home and wasn't sure what to do. The place looked completely different. Of course, I cleaned to the point of exhaustion. I was moving slowly, my joints almost creaking, and there was no way I could even attempt to cook dinner (incidentally I do *not* advise cleaning to this point). Normally I wouldn't have been as thorough as I was. Normally I wouldn't have checked and double and triple checked to make sure something was spotless and streakless.

But I'm not normal right now, well not for pre-pregnancy anyway.

The nesting instinct was satisfied, at least temporarily, by my exertions. I will likely sleep through the night again, for which I am grateful. The question is, how will I satisfy the beast tomorrow? I feel a bit like Seymour from Little Shop of Horrors looking for any way to pacify Audrey 2. Thankfully my nesting incident isn't a human-eating talking plant.