What's a Nice Girl Like Me Doing With All This Junk?

House cleaning for Passover is not just the usual vacuum tracks and dust around the stuff, deal. It's serious business, closets and windows and all! I have a method, but to be honest, it always gets derailed along the way, just a bit. I still get there, but what begins with a very "doable" schedule ends up down to the wire before the 13th becomes the 14th. Let me explain.

I am not a procrastinator, but there is just always a new find that is months long forgotten that needs to be addressed. For instance, and this year I remembered it before I stumbled upon it. I got one of those long scarf valances for my inventory room, last year, but then I couldn't find the rod that fit where I was going to hang it, and . . . you get the picture. So, by the time everything was gathered properly, I decided it was close enough to Passover cleaning to just wait and do it while I went through the inventory room . . . It's not like deep cleaning isn't a big enough project, I schedule add-ons.

This year, though, I've got it scheduled in, hopefully, there won't be too many surprises. Last year, I had it all nice and clean and was maintaining well, when the summer swarm arrived and well, I think I finally have all that cleaned and pitched or mailed, probably not in the right order, but done, none the less. Yet, I digress.

Back to the reality that every year I tell myself I have more stuff than I need. And every year that is correct! Why do we think we need so much stuff? I made the mistake of buying two skirts this year, new no less, which is completely out of character for me. They were on clearance, but still, I caved in to peer pressure in hopes of doing what "women do together," shop! And now, I just feel dumb and wish I had the money to spend elsewhere. Not only did I buy clothes I didn't need, the person I was with totally embarrassed me when I introduced them to a friend who was working at the dress shop. So, anyway, I have two new skirts and the bright side is, if they are as high a quality as the ones I bought from the Thrift Store, over 15 years ago, I may have these the rest of my life! So there's that.

This year, I'm not just getting rid of leaven, I'm getting rid of some stuff that when it was given to me, I had put on that "stoic gracious look, when in my head, I was thinking, what's the deal?" This year, I'm getting rid of all "what's the deal" stuff! I truly believe that this Passover marks the end of the bondage of "life as expected." Every page I turn in Scripture is more than expectation, and certainly the meaning is more than meets the eye.

This year in my Passover housecleaning, I'm throwing out all the mementos of social pressure and traditional protocol!