THE SHINY LITTLE HOUSE

I wish, how I wish, that I had a little house,

With a mat for a cat and a hole for the mouse,

And a clock going "tock" in a corner of the room

And a kettle, and a cupboard, and a big birch broom.

To school in the morning the children off would run,

And I'd give them a kiss and a penny and a bun.

But directly they had gone from this little house of mine,

I'd clap my hands and snatch a cloth,

~ and shine, shine, shine.

I'd shine all the knives, all the windows and the floors,

All the grates, all the plates, all the handles on the doors,

Every fork, every spoon, every lid, and every tin,

Till everything was shining like a bright new pin.

At night, by the fire, when the children were in bed,

I'd sit and I'd knit, with a cap on my head,

And the kettles and the saucepans,

~ they would shine, shine, shine,

In this tweeny little, cozy little house of mine!

Nancy M. Hayes

Cute, Huh? I love it though personally, I'm way more likely to be painting, straightening or rearranging than shining anything. I'm less of a cleaner and more of a tidier, although I'm always trying to do better... (baseboards ~ baseboards ~ don't forget the baseboards!) I once had a revelation in a friend's lovely bathroom that even the baseboards were spotless... before that I'll just admit, my housekeeping was on a level that you would be so lucky as to SEE a baseboard, much less CLEAN a baseboard! And I got it ~ you've got to clear the clutter so you can see the baseboards; once that is done, the cleaning is a snap! I didn't accomplish this overnight, I simply began letting go of stuff that was weighing me down (and keeping me from seeing my baseboards!) Nowadays in my house, baseboards are the wrist on which I take the pulse my house's cleanliness ~ 1-800 howz my house look? ~ They don't lie :) (or is that a :( ? Now, that's just MY little quirk ; yours might be fingerprints on switchplates (not to name names here!)... or whatever! Please don't feel defensive or think I would ever judge you by your baseboards, I wouldn't! But you can sure tell alot by mine! Love, RED