Thursday, July 08, 2010

Daily 5 - Day 329

Today's Daily 5:
  1. a very accomodating and helpful clerk at Office Depot this afternoon when I went to scan an assignment to pdf format for submission
  2. Submitting said statistics assignment, getting it back, and getting a grade that made me smile in a very big way.  Mostly because I taught myself the material, and that assignment took me probably 4-6 hours of hard work, figuring out each example very carefully, and to get a grade of that caliber was always rare for me in math anyway, and to get it after teaching myself the material made me ecstatic.
  3. went to house church tonight - we didn't meet last week, so it's been a couple weeks, and it was lovely to be together again.
  4. encouraging words from friends
  5. after house church the friend who is my ride home most weeks generously consented to my request for some help with a stats assignment (she's an accountant) and we stopped at a coffee shop, split two different flavors of cookies and did math.  More importantly, with her help we were able to solve the problem that had seriously stumped me, meaning I have another assignment ready for submission tomorrow.

The Bane of Household Chores

I meant to write this post on Monday, but things got a little busy.

One of the conditions of my current daily ensconcement at mom and dad's to study is that I help out around the house as needed.

For the first time in years, I have scheduled weekly chores.  The major one on this list is vacuuming.  Each and every Monday I vacuum the main floor of the house.  It's done on Mondays because Mom doesn't have clients on Mondays, and uses that day to clean up the house so that it's tidy when her clients show up for the remainder of the week.

I hate vacuuming. 

I hated it when I was 15 and it was the chore that rotated to me once every 3 weeks, and I hate it now.

It's awkward, time consuming, and nit-picky.  In mom and dad's house you have to move furniture, watch out for walls and corners and baseboards, and shake out and move area rugs.  I always end up hot and sweaty, and generally count it as my exercise for the day.

I have some strong opinions on the subject.

First, the whole main floor is either hardwood or tile.  Why are we still vacuuming?  Sweeping is so much less annoying a task.  Even mopping is preferable.

Second, if you're going to have a vacuum, and insist on using it to clean the hardwood in the nicely (and relatively recently) renovated main floor of the house, and you're concerned about said vacuum bumping into walls and corners and nicking the paint, why is said vacuum a canister vac on wheels with a long house trailing from the front, and a long power cord trailing from the back?  A device that is completely unable to be effectively maneuvered.  If one really must vacuum (anything really, but especially a particularly sensitive, newly renovated environment), then I'm telling you, an upright vacuum where I control everything except the power cord is the way to go.

My mom was shocked when she discovered that I hate vacuuming.  I didn't tell her initially.  She sort of stumbled upon the news.  Her words were, "but wouldn't you rather vacuum than clean a bathroom?"  No.  I'd rather scrub toilets.  Really.

Vacuuming, you see, is the bane of household chores in my opinion.

What household chore is the one you find particularly detestable?