I LOVE TO CLEAN! No seriously, I do. Now ladies don't vilify me, you know some of you have the same "clean little secret." Admit it, you're out there, just too ashamed to show your face. Today, much is said about being active outside the home, well there is nothing wrong in being active inside the home. So join my club, come out of the closet and fess up.

I don't know where it came from, for as long as I can remember, cleaning has been one of my passions. In my teenage years, during summer vacations, I was sent to spend the summers with my grandmother. I could not wait to get there to clean her house, stem to stern. I was so good at it, that she'd pass me around to her friends. It was so bad or good, (however you'd like to look at it), that on any application, under hobbies, I'd list cleaning first. As a matter of fact, in my high school, Memory Book, I listed cleaning, again, first, under hobbies.

My proclivity for cleaning has extended down till now. On my visits to my mother's house, I look forward to cleaning her house, not because it's not clean, it is, but I deep clean, things like decorative figurines, pictures on the walls, etc. I have a little secret that I want to share here. When I go to someones home for a visit or get together, and I go into the bathroom or kitchen and see something out of order or maybe overlooked during preparation or cleaning, I'll take care of that for them, unknown to them. These are only houses that I'm sure the homemaker intended to take care of these things, but did not have time or forgot. I can sympathize with them, because, when I overlook or forget something and I find out after the fact that it was not done, I am upset that my guest saw it undone.

I look forward to cleaning a particularly messy house, I use to say, there was no house too messy for me, until I saw the show, "How Clean Is Your House, a BBC television show. Honestly I'd never seen animal feces indoors, until I saw that show. But I think that I could handle that, well, let me retract that, I could handle all but that. Oh, roaches are a problem too, you see the first part of my life, I never saw a roach, I had to be about eight or nine before I saw my first one. From the first day, I developed a phobia, could you call it a roach phobia? I even have to close my eyes, during a commercial about them. That's not what I'm talking about, I'm talking about my weird hobby. My favorite things to watch, are the television shows on HGTV, and others, anything to do with cleaning, redecorating, decluttering, such as "Clean House." I actually had to ween myself off these stations at one point, can you imagine, I even watched reruns, before they expanded their programming.

My children would hate to go shopping with me, because I would make them pick up the clothes from the floor. The discounts department stores are pretty rough on me, because I spend most of my time picking things up off the floor. My husband use to say that I worked him too hard, what he meant by that was,  when I was up working, he felt guilty, so he'd get up and do something. It got to the point that when he wanted to rest, during one of my cleaning sprees, he would call me over and ask me to just sit with him, that didn't last long, I'd jump back up after a while. His solution at times was to put one leg on my lap, then I'd get the message. Let me clarify, I no longer have the cleanest house on the block, but I still nonstop clean. However, the computer has slowed me down somewhat. Speaking of the cleanest house, I use to have that reputation, when I was young and raising my children.

I can't really explain why, I love to clean so much. For one thing I am restless, I can't sit still for long. Another thing, I just love to see a sparkling clean area. After cleaning an area, I love to stand back and admire my handiwork. Now, I know some of you ladies and a few men can identify with that. Cleaning is also cathartic. When I want to solve a particular tough problem, I find a tough job to do. Although the problem does not necessarily have to be tough, sometimes I just need to think deeply, and cleaning helps me do that. When I'm in a zone, cleaning zone that is, I'm so into it that I go to a different place, and if someone walks upon me, I'm totally unaware to the extent that I nearly jump out of my skin when I become aware of their presence. Yeah, it's that serious at times.  Cleaning is also good for mild depression, because it takes the focus off you and directs your energies elsewhere.  Say, I guess I just explained why I love to clean.  Try it, you might find that you will get the same satisfaction that I do.  It might not help, but it sure can't hurt.