24 Aug 2010
by Tamsinin Bedraggled Mum, Slightly Insane Tags: Cleaning, Dust
Today I was wiping down the kitchen counters and sweeping crumbs off the floor, again, when the old story about the Elves and the Shoemaker came to me. Do you remember it?
In this tale a rubbish shoemaker on the verge of bankruptcy is saved by the helpful kindess of two elves who create incredibly beautiful shoes while he is sleeping. People see these amazing shoes, buy them in droves and he gets fat and rich.
Each night he leaves out the materials and each morning he awakes to find fabulous shoes (think Schuh) lying on his work bench. One night he sneaks a peek into his workroom to find out who is doing this for him and discovers two elves dressed in tatters (or naked, depending on which version you’re reading).
So the shoemaker and his wife make these two helpful evles some clothes. The elves reward the couple’s kindness with good luck and prosperity.
What I would give for a pair of those elves. They don’t have to make shoes. No. I’ll leave all the cleaning stuff out for them and they can do the dishes and the dusting and all that stuff that makes me cranky, and I’ll get them new clothes. Hell, I’ll get them a smartphone, a netbook and unlimited credit with Marks and Spencer for that.
I reckon cleaning my little housie is far easier than making 20 pairs of shoes anyday. Although I don’t want the fat and prosperous bit. Thin and prosperous, yes. Thanks.
23 Aug 2010
by Tamsinin Slightly Insane Tags: Cleaning, Dust, Mommy
My last house was very dusty. Even with a bi-weekly dust and polish, the rattan carpets formed little colonies of dust bunnies that would only appear when we had guests. I was of the belief that living out in the country and close to a pretty busy road meant that the dust was a by-product of all that.
I was wrong.
You see, today I spent a good 20 minutes dusting in the new house. Again. I sat back and stared balefully at the TV (and the dust lurking on top of it stared balefully back) and thought, “Why is there still SO MUCH DUST!?”
I decided to google the word “dust” and find out exactly what it is made of, and how to possibly limit it’s tendency to hang about my house. I really wish I hadn’t.
Dust is formed by anything that is dry and light enough to be blown around and carried bythe air. This can include ash, salt, minerals from space, tiny insect bodies, soil, pollen, dead skin cells, and dust mite poo. The latter two are the biggest contributors to household dust, with dead human (and animal) skin cells being the most dominant. URGH.
I got quite lost in all the different descriptions of dust and the percentage of human skin cells to the rest of the ingredients and then stopped. Could it be that we are some kind of skin shedding freak family of doom? PANIC.
Further scouring of the internet while wearing a full body suit revealed that people living by the coast are more likely to suffer from problems with dust. Vindicated! However, the utter grossness of dust mites that can, apparently, float in the air and that eat our dust and make more dust with their poo, has had me climbing the walls. I keep thinking, have I just eaten one? Did I just breathe one in? Did I swallow a whole family when I was cleaning the other day? Shudder.
Although one thing I did find on my travels was a school project that amused me a great deal. These kids had to monitor the progress of dust bunnies in their bedrooms. They did so by adding coloured bits to the different dust bunnies and giving them names. Their results are really interesting and the little quotes are too cute. Oh, and the microscopic examination of the dust bunnies was gross.
So, I have resolved that there is nothing I can do about dust, except clean it up a lot while muttering under my breath, and that I am going to try and wipe the information I have uncovered about dust out of my mind. Otherwise I’ll be tackling dust in a NASA suit. Yuk.
Some useful links:
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art40174.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/203555-What-s-in-Household-Dust-Don-t-Ask
Today I was wiping down the kitchen counters and sweeping crumbs off the floor, again, when the old story about the Elves and the Shoemaker came to me. Do you remember it?
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