If dust bunnies were money, I'd be rich

We have a lot of woodwork in our old house and it always seems that wood attracts dust or perhaps dust is more noticeable on wood.  I have not deep cleaned my house in a long time.  There were so many outdoor projects that were clammering for my time this fall and I had to put off doing a proper cleaning of my house for weeks.  I did the "must do" projects such as cleaning bathrooms and the kitchen and I tidied up the rest of the house as best I could.  But, my house looked terrible and when people would stop by, I really didn't care and didn't get too embarrassed.  It was more important to get those outdoor projects done. 

Now that the cold weather has hit Iowa, the time to do "fall cleaning" has arrived in my house.  I decided to tackle two rooms at a time and yesterday I picked the diningroom and the hallway.  Well, I didn't get very far as it was quite a dusting job and I had some volunteer obligations to attend to.  I did get down on my knees and started to dust the mop boards which are about a foot high from the floor and then there is the woodwork that goes around all of the entryways, the pocket doors that stick out a little from the doorways (forever stuck), and of course the crown molding. 

This is a picture I took last year during Christmas.  It gives you an idea of some of the old woodwork in our house.  This is the view from our dining room into our living room.  Note the walls in the living room have been stripped of their wall paper and I need to do some plaster repair and painting.  Yes, we have lived with it looking like this for a long time.  Now I have to get to work and get this project done.

Which brings me to dust bunnies. I love the name - dust bunnies.  Perhaps if we called them dust rattlesnakes I would have gotten to this task sooner, but dust bunnies is a warm, fuzzy name.  I knew everything was dusty but when I got down on my hands and knees I really saw the herd of dust bunnies.

Normally I vacuum the hard wood floors about twice a week - that is the wood floors that are exposed around large area rugs.  However, vacuuming wasn't going to get the job done this time.  I was on my hands and knees with a dust rag and I shook the rag out several times.  I am a get down on your hands and knees kind of person in order to get the cleaning job done properly.  But it does come with its drawbacks.  When I am down on my hands and knees I seem to attract the attention of our dog and cat.  Our dog came over and stood next to me and was watching me the entire time.  Then she laid down next to me and rolled over on her back as if to tell me, "hey, you're down here so you might as well rub my tummy."  So I did rub her tummy and then I got her to move into the livingroom.

About that time I realized I had to leave to help with a kids club at church.  So, I am starting again today.

I am getting the house into shape this week and next week - but the week after Thanksgiving I will be patching plaster on the living room walls and starting to paint them.  I have warned my family that the only Christmas decoration that would be going up this year would be the Christmas tree.  I have a lot of painting to do along with removing wallpaper and restaining woodwork in several rooms downstairs and I need to get it done and best of all, I am motivated to get it done. 

This is a picture from last year.

This will be our only Christmas decoration up this year.

My family's response was that was fine as long as I did the Christmas baking too.  No problem, as I can hardly wait to bake and eat some of those annual homemade goodies.