SPRING HOUSEKEEPING!!

Yesterday I wrote about that we ironed everything but the kitchen sink, well maybe the reason that we didn't iron the kitchen sink, is that we had no kitchen sink! We had large dish pans that we washed the dishes and rinsed them in.

In the spring of the year my mother would really give our house a fantastic cleaning, from top to bottom. This was called "spring house cleaning". After a hard winter with wood burning stoves heating the house, the walls really needed a good cleaning. Most of the rooms were wallpapered and on first glance at the walls, one would not notice that it needed cleaning. But when you took a ball of wall cleaner and started wiping the walls down with this ball, you would really see quite a big difference. The wall cleaner reminded me of today's playdough. These are the months just prior to spring planting, and if the walls needed papering, our dad would help with this job.

All curtains had to come down and washed thoroughly, lightly starched and stretched on a stretcher until dried. All windows had to be washed inside and out.

All carpets had to be taken out on the line and beaten with a carpet beater. Remember that there were no electricity so we had no electric sweepers. We just had a hand held carpet sweeper that got the top surface cleaned. Most of our floors were wood or covered with linoleum. I think there was only one carpet to be beaten and that was our carpet in the parlor.

Our kitchen had linoleum and wasn't an inlaid linoleum like they have today, but one that would show the wear. This was the time that my mother would paint the linoleum a grey color background and took a sponge and dipped it in various colors to make it a pebbled floor look. During this time, I imagine the kitchen was virtually closed until the paint was dry to walk on. Slim pickings for meals during those few days.

Mattresses had to be turned and springs had to be washed down.

Kitchen walls had to be scrubbed down and all cabinets cleaned. The pantry shelves had to have new paper lining. This lining was just newspaper and cut to give it a fancy edge.

All wool comforters had to be aired and packed in moth balls, as well as wool clothing for the next year.

Porch floors had to be scrubbed and painted. This wasn't always a yearly thing, but as needed.

Well, there you have it, "A SPANKIN CLEAN HOUSE".

Today's wisdom--God wants to do some housecleaning of his own in our life. In Psalm 51:10 it states--"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me."